Print Email Facebook Twitter Highrise energy storage core: Feasibility study for a hydro-electrical pumped energy storage system in a tall building Title Highrise energy storage core: Feasibility study for a hydro-electrical pumped energy storage system in a tall building Author Oldenmenger, A.W. Contributor Nijsse, R. (mentor) Van den Dobbelsteen, A.A.J.F. (mentor) Schipper, H.R. (mentor) Faculty Civil Engineering and Geosciences Department Structural Engineering Programme Building Engineering/Structural Design Date 2013-09-05 Abstract To counter the effects of carbon dioxide emissions and to become less dependent on energy imports, the electrical energy production in Europe is likely to make a significant shift towards renewable energy sources in the coming years. One of the major challenges in this transition process is to match the unpredictable and fluctuating supply of renewable energies, like wind and PV, with the demand. The solution to this problem comprises demand control (smart grids) and storage systems. The Highrise Energy Storage Core (HESC) is a gravitational potential energy system that stores electrical energy inside a tall building by lifting a large mass inside the concrete core of a tall building. The mass is raised by pumping water with high pressure underneath the piston when there is an energy surplus. During an energy shortage, the mass is lowered and energy is recovered with a turbine. By activating the mass, the system can also be used as a thermal buffer and the water inside the system can be used to extinguish a fire instead of extracting water from nearby surface water, storage tanks, or the mains. This study elaborates upon the need for storage in an electrical grid with a significant share of renewables and the idea of storing energy inside the core of a tall building. Several options that use the height of the building have been looked at. A set of commonly used storage solutions has been examined and compared with the HESC. In order to investigate the economical and technical feasibility, the system has been applied to an 80 meter tall reference building and to a second 160 meter tall building. The most important components have been dimensioned and the round-trip efficiency for the tall and very tall building have been calculated. Placing a storage system in the electrical grid enables a profound integration of renewable energies. Placing such systems near the end users has many advantages for the stability of the grid and the losses that occur in the grid. The power capacity in relation to the energy capacity makes the HESC solution particularly suitable for levelling out the daily supply and demand fluctuations. Energy generated during the day can be used during the evening and overproduction at night can be used to level out peak demands in the morning. Calculations show that the technical and economical feasibility of the HESC storage system increases with the height of the building. The round-trip efficiency of the 80 meter tall building is 69% and the efficiency of the 160m tall building is 74%. The economic calculations show that the energy density of the system needs to be maximized by optimizing the height of the piston since the floor space costs turned out to be an important parameter in the overall costs calculation. The thermal capacity of the building mass increases by 150%, but further research is needed to investigate the best options for using using this buffer capacity. The HESC is a multi-functional storage system for tall to very tall buildings that is able to compete on price and efficiency with currently applied single use storage systems. Subject electrical energy storagehighriserenewablesconcrete corethermal energy storagegravitational potential energy storagesmart gridFrancis turbinepumps To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:4128fa2c-0446-4857-a2c0-ff1c9ff94b49 Part of collection Student theses Document type master thesis Rights (c) 2013 Oldenmenger, A.W. Files PDF mscThesis_a_oldenmenger.pdf 9.16 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:4128fa2c-0446-4857-a2c0-ff1c9ff94b49/datastream/OBJ/view