Heat Accumulation from Renewables with Valid Energy Storage and Transformation - HARVEST

气候变化委员会建议，我们需要在2050年前实现建筑物内所有热量的脱碳，以实现净零排放目标。通过直接电加热或热泵实现供热电气化似乎更有可能在实践中实现。然而，热量的完全电气化将导致冬季的电力需求比夏季高得多。此外，由于环境温度的一致性，也会导致电力需求激增，这对电网来说是一个很大的挑战。该项目将开发一种新的解决方案，利用热化学蓄热技术常年吸收和积累被削减/浪费的可再生电力，然后利用热泵技术转换和放大冬季的热量输出和夏季的制冷输出。该解决方案的独特之处在于：(1)微波辅助过程可灵活吸收可再生电能；(2)热化学储热材料与氨水直接接触反应的紧凑高效再生过程。我们已经建立了一个强大的多学科联盟，由来自伯明翰大学、爱丁堡大学和伦敦大学学院的顶尖研究人员组成，以应对科学/技术方面和社会方面的关键挑战。我们的研究将对“脱碳供暖和制冷2”呼吁文件中确定的几种方法做出重大贡献，特别是“供暖和/或制冷的新技术”和“储热或冷藏的新方法或重大发展”。我们的研究还得到了英国和国际合作伙伴的进一步支持，以最大限度地促进知识交流和影响交付。

The Committee on Climate Change suggests that we need to decarbonise all heat in buildings by 2050 to achieve the Net Zero emissions targets. The electrification of heat supply, through either direct electric heating or heat pumps, seems more likely to be realised in practice. However, the complete electrification of heat will result in much higher electricity demand in winter than in summer. Furthermore, due to the consistency of ambient temperature, it will also lead to electricity demand spikiness which is a big challenge for the grid. The HARVEST project will develop a new solution that can absorb and accumulate the curtailed/waste renewable electricity all around the year using thermochemical heat storage technology and then convert and magnify the heat output in winter and cooling output in summer using heat pump technology. The unique features of the proposed solution are: (1) the microwave-assisted process to flexibly absorb renewable electricity; and (2) the compact and efficient regeneration process by direct contact reaction between thermochemical heat storage materials and ammonia solution. We have established a strong multidisciplinary consortium, consisting of leading researchers from the University of Birmingham, the University of Edinburgh, and the University College London, to address the key challenges in both the scientific/technological aspects and social aspects. Our research will significantly contribute to several identified approaches in the 'Decarbonising Heating and Cooling 2' call document, in particular, the 'new technologies of heating and/or cooling' and 'new methods or significant developments for heat storage or cold storage'. Our research is also further supported by the UK and international partners to maximise knowledge exchange and impact delivery.