The EINSTEIN Project and Integrating Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage into the Heating Systems of Existing Buildings: Eurotherm Seminar Nº99: Advances in Thermal Energy Storage

This paper gives an overview of the EINSTEIN project, which was established to demonstrate the potential afforded by Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage (STES) when used in conjunction with heat pumps in meeting the needs of energy-efficient buildings. Details are provided of the analysis undertaken in determine the minimum supply temperatures for existing buildings to facilitate the integration of STES-based heating systems.

The acronym EINSTEIN stands for the Effective INtegration of Seasonal Thermal energy storage in ExIsting BuildiNgs. This €9m EU project is funded under the FP7 programme and involves 17 European partners, the lead partner being the Spanish company Tecnalia.

The project ranges from the baselining of STES systems application in existing buildings, the subsequent development of a methodology and an evaluation tool and framework through to the demonstration of the concept in two pilot installations in Spain and Poland.

A key element of the project is to adapt STES to be applied in existing buildings. This involves the integration of existing heating systems (which can have typical operating ranges from 60° C to 80° C) to operate with the significantly lower temperatures associated with STES systems.
Thus, an analysis has been carried out to determine the extent to which traditional heating systems can operate effectively with lower supply temperatures whilst still meeting the space heating demands of the dwelling.