Page 48 - Climate Control News Magazine May 2019

New products
Thermal power for commercial use
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN COMPANY CCT En- ergy Storage has unveiled the world’s first work- ing thermal battery.
Known as TED (Thermal Energy Device), the battery accepts any form of electrical input to convert and store energy as latent heat – making it versatile, affordable and long lasting.
The South Australian business will supply at least 10 TED units to commercial customers this year, with production expected to increase to more than 200 units by 2020.
CCT CEO, Serge Bondarenko said TED had the ability to change the global energy market by providing the most affordable and environmen- tally friendly alternative power source.
TED stores electrical energy as thermal ener- gy by heating and melting a unique phase change material. The energy is stored at more than 12 times the density of a lead acid battery, before be- ing extracted by thermic generator to provide electricity when, and where it’s needed.
Readily scalable, TED will be used to power remote communities, commercial business- es, telecommunications networks and trans- port systems.
“TED’s scalability means it can be used in
small scale 5kW applications to large scale applications of hundreds of megawatts of in- stantaneous power,” Bondarenko said. “And unlike some renewable energy sources, TED can manage input variations, produce base load output and charge and discharge simul- taneously – minimising energy wastage and
CCT launch – Serge Bondarenko caption: CCT CEO, Serge Bondarenko, with TED (Thermal Energy Device).
making it applicable to numerous commer- cial industries.”
Production of TED will begin immediately at the business’ s Lonsdale plant, with European energy partner MIBA Group to exclusively man- ufacture and distribute TED to Denmark, Swe- den and the Netherlands.
Call to standardise testing of solar panels
SUN METALS CORPORATION Pty Ltd and James Cook University’s Cyclone Testing Station, working with FM Global, one of the world’s larg- est commercial and industrial property insurers, has completed wind-tunnel and structural static testing of ground-mounted solar panels in Aus- tralia to understand the risk of high wind and cyclone damage within solar farms.
Australia’s appetite for renewable energy pro- jects, including large-scale solar, has increased the potential for equipment failures to cause
RIGHT: The Townsville solar farm
is the largest in Australia.
major disruption and multimillion dollar losses for consumers and businesses alike.
The Queensland region experiences an av- erage of 4.7 tropical cyclones per year, yet de- spite this, standardised resilience testing does not exist.
FM Global worked with Sun Metals Corpora- tion Pty Ltd (SMC) to look for ways to highlight any areas of exposure for its recently installed $200 million Townsville solar farm – the largest solar farm in Australia.
Static testing was conducted by James Cook University’s Cyclone Testing Station in collabo- ration with the installer of the solar farm.
Wind-tunnel tests were performed by CPP consultants.
SMC director and CFO, said the company un- derstood it was building its solar farm in a cy- clone prone area and made sure all aspects of the build had this risk in mind.
FM Global advocates for wind resilience test- ing to be required under national regulations. The insurer has always promoted wind design and testing guidance for wind-resistant systems across its branches worldwide.
FM Global operations manager, Lynette Schultheis, said solar users and key players in the power generation industry need to under- stand and mitigate against risk.
“FM Global hopes the government and insur- ance industry will get on board to standardise the resilience testing of solar panels and future-proof our country’s renewable energy investments.”
Australia’s pipeline of large-scale solar projects has leapt to 35GW, joining an exist- ing 564MW of large-scale solar connected to the grid.
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