IEA ECES Annex 35 - Flexible Sector Coupling with Energy Storage

The project is a part of Annex 35, under IEA ECES (Energy Conversation Through Energy Storage) which is the Technology Collaboration Programme for activities related to energy storage technologies within the IEA.

This project will focus on identification of the most promising energy storage configurations (technically and economically), which could allow for an efficiency coupling between an electricity sector characterized by a high share of renewable energy sources (RES) and the sectors of heating/cooling and transport. This coupling is the base for a smart energy system, where the integration and coordination of different sectors achieve an optimal solution not only for each individual sector, but also for the overall energy system.

The Annex 35 project is very relevant in the context of the future energy system in Denmark, as well as in other countries. In Denmark the share of fluctuating renewables in the energy mix has been increasing rapidly in the last years and this development is expected to continue in the future. The integration of an increasingly large share of renewable electricity in the energy system can be achieved in different ways where flexible sector coupling is a promising one, which is assessed further in this project.