A novel Renewable Energy Storage System tailored for Offshore Applications

Introduction

By 2050, 12% of world primary energy supply will come from wind, of which 20% will come from offshore wind (source: DNV‘s Energy Transition Outlook). This poses a significant challenge to the electricity supply due to wind’s intermittent and unpredictable nature. Thus, energy storage is a decisive factor in exploiting the full potential of offshore wind power.

Addressing Industry Challenges

By providing a tailored technology for the offshore wind energy market, we are addressing two of the biggest challenges in the energy industry:

1. The temporal mismatch
2. The spatial mismatch

FLASC HPES will enable the integration of large-scale energy storage into offshore renewables, catalyzing the development of this nascent market.

Client-Specific Solutions

FLASC addresses client-specific pain points, bridging the gap for offshore wind developers who are currently exposed to:

• Wind intermittency
• Demand fluctuations
• Grid congestion
• Market volatility

A FLASC energy storage system within the wind farm introduces flexibility to the energy supply, increasing profitability which will enable a scale-up in new offshore wind farm deployments.

Unique Energy Storage System

FLASC HPES is a unique energy storage system tailored for offshore that combines two innovations:

1. Pneumatic pre-charging, which avoids reliance on hydrostatic pressure
2. Using the ocean as a natural heat sink

The system can be installed in shallow water (~40-400m) and is suitable for fixed-bottom and floating applications. FLASC is unique when compared to other offshore energy storage concepts because it is compact and less expensive, has a lower environmental impact, and can be co-located in shallower waters within the footprint of the wind farm.

Contribution to Energy Goals

With the REPowerEU Plan (the European Commission’s plan to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels) aiming at 60GW of installed capacity of offshore wind energy by 2030, FLASC will play a key role in meeting the energy targets while reducing dependence on fossil fuels and gas imports.