While fossil fuels are currently used to generate almost all the heat needed in industrial processes, technological solutions like industrial thermal batteries can provide this heat while powered by clean energy. With the right policy support, US can economically scale up these technologies while cutting climate pollution at the speed and scale necessary to reach our emission reduction targets.
Thermal batteries, also called heat batteries, convert electricity into heat, store the heat for hours or days, and release it when the energy is needed. Thermal batteries can make industrial heating electricity costs competitive with natural gas equipment while displacing 75 percent of fossil fuel use in U.S. industrial non-feedstock energy demand, roughly 13,000 petajoules per year. That’s equivalent to the total energy use of all homes in the top 14 states (Texas, California, Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, New Jersey, Virginia, Tennessee, and Indiana) added together.
The report “Industrial Thermal Batteries: Decarbonizing U.S. Industry While Supporting a High-Renewables Grid” published by Energy Innovation can be accessed here
