Sustainable self-supporting urban smart grid

The SSUSG project is the first step in the development of a sustainable self-sufficient energy system, which will demonstrate the functioning of the various elements in their real neighbourhood environment and is therefore the first of its kind in Europe. In particular, the coupling of electrical energy and heat and their storage in a sea salt and heat battery respectively is unique.

The development of the batteries as part of a SMART grid that combines the generation, storage and distribution of energy is cheaper and more sustainable than existing alternatives due to the use of the materials provided. The combination of heat and electrical storage further enables the optimisation of self-consumption for individual residents, while at the same time contributing to the stability of the network with increasing decentralised generation of electricity.

The basic result of the project is the delivery of the elements (prototype system) that enable an actual working SMART grid at neighbourhood level for the generation, storage and distribution of heat and electricity.

To achieve this, TNO will provide a prototype of a heat battery based on salt hydrate, which works in a test study. This heat exchanger will be suitable for the supply of space heating and hot tap water and achieve a storage density of 0.5 GJ/m3 at battery level.