Sensible heat storage: Overview
Banking cheap electricity as heat in sand, rock and water
What this tile covers Storing heat by warming a material: water, molten salt, sand, rock, bricks or underground stores. Share of use <.01% share of world stored energy (2019)Share of the world's stored energy (energy capacity held, TWh, latest year 2019 to 2026) across the forms with figures, about 22,551 TWh; fuel stocks dominate. Battery and other stores count capacity, not state of charge (calculated) IRENA counted 199 GWh of heat storage in buildings, district heating and industry plus over 21 GWh of molten salt, about 220 GWh, at end 2019. Domestic hot-water tanks are excluded, so this is a lower bound; a 2021 DLR estimate puts molten salt alone near 60 GWh. Source: Innovation Outlook: Thermal Energy Storage, IRENA.
Key facts
| Duration | Hours to seasons |
| Chain | Electrical → heat (resistive) → stored heat → heat or steam → electrical |
Included from the reference tables
- Hot-water tanks
- Molten salt
- Sand, rock and brick 'batteries'
- Building thermal mass
- Seasonal pit, borehole and aquifer stores
Also in Thermal
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