Polar Night Energy Takes Part in NewSETS – A Project Implementing Novel Storage Solutions for a Sustainable Energy Transition

A consortium lead by Flexens Oy Ab has succeeded in securing funding through the ERA-Net SES MiCall19 framework. The other consortium partners are LUT University, Polar Night Energy Oy and Pumped Hydro Storage Sweden Ab. With a total budget of 4.1 million euros, the three-year project called NewSETS focuses on novel energy storage solutions.

NewSETS, short for “New energy storages promoting sustainable energy transition in societies”, is all about storing energy. The project centres around two main storage types: seasonal heat storage and underground pumped hydro storage.

The former storage type is developed by the Finnish company Polar Night Energy and uses high-temperature sand to store heat. The latter, provided by the Swedish company Pumped Hydro Storage, employs conventional pumped hydro methods in a new space: underground. Both technologies present low-emission and innovative approaches to energy storage.

NewSETS links demonstrations, feasibility studies, market and system analyses with ambitious communication efforts. The underground pumped hydro storage will be demonstrated in the project, while the team will perform feasibility studies for the seasonal heat storage. In addition, the effects of the two storage types on the energy system will be comprehensively studied – also in combination with other storage solutions.

The NewSETS project aims to establish a positive outlook among energy stakeholders and make climate change mitigation efforts visible to everyone through skilful communication. It is an ambitious project rooted in international collaboration and mutual interests in a sustainable energy transition.

“NewSETS combines professionals with different perspectives on a common problem: how to stabilize energy networks with new kinds of storage solutions. The project offers us a wonderful chance to examine how our high temperature sand-based heat storage could be tailored to best serve diverse customers and applications”, says Polar Night Energy’s Project Manager Liisa Naskali.

NewSETS officially started in the summer of 2021. Now, the joint communication of NewSETS is finally launched through the project’s own webpage. Juhani Riikonen, project manager, anticipates a fruitful continued collaboration.

“Looking forward to working with the consortium on this. It will be interesting to see how these storage types can benefit energy systems and complement each other in the renewable energy transition”, says Riikonen.

Visit NewSETS official webpage at www.newsets.eu.

Project Partners

Flexens Oy Ab is a project developer and investor implementing critical technologies needed to enable societies to run 100 % renewable energy sources. Flexens was founded in 2018 to capitalize on the skills and capabilities created in building the world-leading RES testbed and demo platform, Smart Energy Åland, capturing the rapidly growing demand for renewable energy systems. Through a public-private-partnership with multi-level actors on Åland, Flexens has founded a clear pathway and developed the essential framework needed to ensure rapid novel RES technology diffusion and implementation.

LUT University (Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology) is a pioneering science university in Finland, bringing together the fields of science and business since 1969.

Polar Night Energy designs and builds high temperature & low emission heat storages for district heating and industrial applications.

Pumped Hydro Storage solution enables large-scale electricity storage with the help of proven technology combined with the unique idea of installing pumping power in abandoned mines. The storage method (PSH) is characterized by low cost, high efficiency, and long service life.

This project has received funding in the framework of the joint programming initiative ERA-Net Smart Energy Systems.

The initiative has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements no. 646039 and no. 755970.