Enel, Brenmiller Energy inaugurate rock-based storage system in Italy

Italian energy major Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) last week said it has integrated an innovative rock-based thermal energy storage (TES) system developed and supplied by Brenmiller Energy Ltd (TLV:BNRG) with its Santa Barbara power plant in Tuscany.

The made-in-Israel system was inaugurated on Friday as part of a trial, which Salvatore Bernabei, Head of Enel Green Power and Thermal Generation at Enel, said enables the company “to validate a family of innovative and sustainable technologies in the segment of long-term storage, which will allow for an ever greater integration of renewables into the grid."

Brenmiller Energy’s TES technology has a charging phase during which it uses steam from the Santa Barbara plant to heat adjacent crushed rocks, and a discharging phase during which the accumulated heat is released to heat pressurised water and generate steam for electricity. The developer says that the system can store up to 24 MWh of heat at a temperature of about 550°C for five hours.

“This solution makes renewables more reliable, flexible and resilient and can be used to decarbonize sectors that need heat at high temperatures,” said Ernesto Ciorra, Director of Innovability of Enel, adding that the process does not require any rare materials.

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