About SEHRENE
SEHRENE - Store Electricity and Heat foR climatE Neutral Europe
Pioneering Electro-Thermal Energy Storage for Europe's Net Zero Future
Project Information
Start date
January 2024
End date
June 2027
Funded under:
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions under European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
Overall budget:
€ 3.548.416,75
Coordination:
Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA)
Project call:
HORIZON-CL5-2023-D3-01
In March 2023, the European Commission introduced the Net Zero Industry Act, aiming to manufacture 40% of Europe’s strategic energy technologies within Europe by 2030. This ambitious directive encompasses eight key technologies, focusing on energy storage, heat pumps (HP), renewable electricity (RE), and grid technologies. This initiative was designed to boost Europe’s capability to attract international investments, reflecting the trend seen in 2022 where energy—especially energy storage including hydrogen and batteries—dominated investment in emerging deep-tech sectors. However, Europe’s transition to RE necessitates substantial advancements in medium- and long-duration energy storage solutions.
SEHRENE brings together 5 R&D teams, 1 Energy system plant manufacturer, 1 Renewable Energy producer, 1 Distribution Systems operator, 1 ceramics company, 1 SME developing decision-support tools, and 1 SME for dissemination and communication. Driven by these insights, SEHRENE proposes an innovative solution for the storage of heat and electricity: the Electro-Thermal Energy Storage (ETES) system. SEHRENE’s ETES features a groundbreaking architecture that addresses the primary technological challenge of traditional ETES systems—reduced round-trip efficiencies (RTE) due to irreversibilities as temperature pinch in heat exchangers. Our approach includes several pioneering innovations to enhance the efficiency of “power-to-heat” and “heat-to-power” conversions.
A central component of SEHRENE’s ETES is its novel Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system. This system functions dually as a condenser and an evaporator—serving as a condenser during charging and an evaporator during discharging. This versatility allows the TES to recover Industrial Waste Heat and Renewable Heat (IWRH), acting as a thermal booster to enhance electricity production and improve RTE.
SEHRENE’s mission is to provide a viable and efficient solution for energy storage, contributing to Europe’s goal of a sustainable, renewable energy future. Through our innovative ETES technology, we aim to facilitate the continent’s shift to renewable energy and support the decarbonization of industrial sectors, paving the way for a resilient and green energy infrastructure.
Objectives
The SEHRENE project aims to revolutionize energy storage by developing cutting-edge technologies for efficient heat and electricity management. Our objectives focus on:
- Optimized cost-effective Electro-Thermal Energy System (ETES)
Objective 1: To design an integrated ETES concept at Technology Readines Level (TRL) 4
Objective 2: To maximize ETES performances
Objective 3: To ensure economic viability and environmental sustainability of the ETES - Scalability and replicability
Objective 4: To provide digital twin of the ETES on the 3 use cases
Objective 5: To provide Energy Management System (EMS) for ETES - Lifetime extended and reliability
Objective 6: To run a labscale prototype of ETES at TRL 4 with 10 kW Heat pump prototype and 20 kWh Phase Change Materials (PCM) Thermal Energy Storage (TES) prototype
Objective 7: To ensure reliability of the TES (no lattice failure, corrosion and PCM aging tested up to 168h) - To ensure market entry by 2030
Objective 8: To engage stakeholders to invest after SEHRENE project in TRL7/8 demonstration projects
Objective 9: To rely the ETES concept on commercially viable materials and components by 2030 (Manufacturing Readiness Level-MRL- 9-10) for Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), TES and Heat Pump (HP)
Consortium
SEHRENE is a Horizon Europe project funded by the European Commission’ granting authority European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, with 11 partners and associated partners from 7 EU partners and associated partners countries and led by CEA (France).
