A UK startup is building a new type of heat ‘megacell’ that it says could help industry switch off the gas and use cheap solar power instead.
Hampshire-based Caldera has developed what it claims is a unique heat storage technology that takes solar energy – generated either on-site or at a nearby solar farm – to heat up one or more solid megacells made of scrap aluminium and volcanic rock.
Each vacuum-insulated cell can store this heat at up to 500C, the company says; ready to be delivered on demand to industrial users as hot water or steam up to 210C.
The project has £4.3m backing from the UK Department for Energy Security & Net Zero. The company’s chief executive, James Macnaghten is seeking an industrial partner to host its first megacell.
“Most people think the steam age ended last century – but in fact it has never gone away,” Macnaghten said. “Around 70% of UK industrial energy demand is for heat, with industrial steam accounting for 31% of the total.
“This steam is crucial for processes in sectors like pharmaceuticals, food manufacturing and brewing, and is typically generated by boilers burning gas or oil. Steam is ideal for many businesses because it holds a lot of heat which can be moved around relatively easily via pipes and valves.
“To date, most factories still rely on gas to heat that water – but our technology allows industrial users to capitalise on inexpensive solar energy, which can be generated on-site or on land nearby.”
Caldera has already demonstrated the technology with a pilot facility at its factory, and is now scaling up by building its first megacell – which will be 2.9 metres in diameter and seven metres high – and capable of storing up to 4MWh of low carbon thermal energy.
Each cell is filled with a special aluminium-rock composite, a ‘thermal super material’ designed by Caldera to cheaply and effectively store low carbon electricity as heat.
Caldera believes its groundbreaking system will enable many UK industries to turn off their CO2-emitting gas boilers in favour of a cost-effective green alternative.
So far, Caldera has been developing a number of small heat cells, connected in parallel, and the development of the megacell has come through discussions with industrial users.
“Many industrial sites have a constrained footprint,” Macnaghten added. “It therefore made sense for us to move away from multiple small cells to larger and much taller cells.
“Our new megacell is sized specifically to fit on a standard truck, and by making the cell much taller, we can now store significantly more heat.
“We are now talking with early-adopter industrial customers who wish to be the first to benefit from this low-carbon technology and we’re aiming to begin our first install in 2025.”
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