3rd International Workshop on Carnot Batteries

The 3rd International Workshop On Carnot Batteries jointly organized by KIT, University Stuttgart and DLR will be held
in Stuttgart on September 27-28, 2022.

The solution of the energy storage issue is an outstanding challenge to our society. The integration of intermittent sources of electric power from renewable energies into the future energy infrastructure requires storage capacities in gigawatt hours.

The site-independent and at the same time, inexpensive storage of electrical energy on the scale of the daily consumption of a large city is of existential importance worldwide for the integration of renewable energy into a sustainable energy system of the future. The technology of the isentropic energy storage system represents a promising approach to solve this issue.

Carnot batteries are an emerging technology for the inexpensive and site-independent storage of electric energy at gigawatt hour scale. Also referred to as “Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage” (PTES), “Pumped Heat Electricity Storage” (PHES) or “Electro-Thermal Energy Storage” (ETES), a Carnot Battery transforms electricity into heat, stores the heat in inexpensive storage media like water or molten salt and transforms the heat back to electricity when required.

Carnot batteries have the potential to solve the global storage problem of renewable electricity in a more economic and environmentally friendly way than conventional batteries.

The technology of the Carnot battery has been subject to intensive energy research over the last few years. There are many international research activities on a theoretical and experimental level and several concepts for Carnot batteries have been proposed. The increasing interest in this technology is also reflected in the founding of the IEA Storage Annex 36 “Carnot Batteries”.

The 3rd International Workshop on Carnot batteries will bring together experts in energy storage, in particular thermal energy storage, to discuss the state of the art of research and demonstration of  Carnot batteries.

In a two-day lecture programme, a broad overview of innovative research approaches will be provided, and topics of different Carnot battery concepts and their demonstration and integration into the power grid and sector coupling will be addressed. Numerous participants from science and industry have already confirmed their participation (see list of speakers). The workshop serves as an international platform to present latest results in Carnot batteries research and make them internationally visible.