One of the main challenges facing renewables is linked to their own nature of non-manageable energies, which involves that they need fossil-based backup to meet energy demand. This factor has an impact on the flow of renewable energy that is generated and on its availability. Therefore, the Aragonese company HydraRedox, has set to address the situation by proposing appropriate energy storage systems that prevent the energy from renewable sources from being underutilized.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Spain is the seventh country in the world in terms of installed capacity, with just over 30GW. Globally, in the year 2000, the total installed capacity of solar and wind energy was 18GW; today it is 900GW. If 20% of that renewable energy produced had to be stored for an average of six hours, the required storage would be 1,080GWh. In a country like Spain, projects like the one developed by the SME HydraRedox have a tremendous potential of success in the market.
European funding for a plant in Sabiñánigo
A Reliable, Efficient, Flexible and Cost-Effective Vanadium Redox Battery Technology for Large Scale Storage was the project presented by HydraRedox. This project was selected by the EU, which has funded both the construction of a large-scale demonstration plant in Sabiñánigo, and the commercial launch of this sustainable technology.
HydraRedox technology stands out for its technical, commercial and environmental compatibility with renewable generation sources to store large amounts of energy
“Electrochemical systems have been considered the most promising technology due to their ability to store large amounts of energy,” says Luis Collantes, CEO of the company. “The HydraRedox technology (Vanadium Redox) stands out for its technical, commercial and environmental compatibility with renewable generation sources to store large amounts of energy, which is not possible with other technologies.”
This type of storage applications can serve large-scale residential consumers, the agricultural industry, defense services, as well as the commercial and industrial sectors that are large consumers of energy.
European support for research
Like HydraRedox Iberia, many other companies have innovative projects that need support to accelerate their growth and consolidate.
The Horizon 2020 Program supports projects that are coherent with the European Union’s energy strategy
The SME Instrument of the EU’s Research and Development program, Horizon 2020, was launched with the aim of supporting innovative technology development projects that are coherent with the European Union’s energy strategy. This would also improve competitiveness and research on issues impacting European citizens.
HydraRedox Iberia is one of the recipient companies of this program, provisioned with a budget of 80,000 million euros for the period 2014-2020 to finance SMEs that demonstrate innovation and growth potential.
