The main components of the laboratory are:
- an AE-T100 micro gas turbine (mGT), a combined heat and power (CHP) unit which can provide in nominal conditions 100 kWel and 160 kWth with a nominal electrical efficiency of 30% and overall cogenerative efficiency of 80%;
- a latent heat water thermal energy storage system (TES) of 5 m3 of capacity for the heat storage, resulting in around 150 kWh of maximum thermal capacity (with a thermal swift of around 25 K);
- a heat pump (HP), which requires 10kWel and can provide 46kWth (when the low heat source is at temperature of 35/40°C). The HP exploits the heat from solar façade panels as a low temperature source and is connected to another intermediate TES of the same capacity to balance the panels thermal fluctuations.
- a BESS of 10 kWh – Crate = 1. This BESS is a Ni-Zn based storage which characteristics of safety, low degradation, very high DOD makes this technology suitable for a energy balance application.
The plant is electrically connected to the “Smart Polygeneration Microgrid” (SPM) of UNIGE University Campus (Savona, Italy) which can share electricity to the national grid. The plant components electrically connected to the SPM grid are the mGT and BESS. On the thermal side, the plant is connected to a third generation DHN, where water feeds the system at around 75 °C and returns at around 50 °C.
The LOLABAT project initially anticipates a battery service life of 2.7–5.5 years based on 1000–2000 cycles with 100% DoD. The project aims to improve this to 5.5–11 years by targeting 2000-4000 cycles. With one or two cell refresh as expected in the typical project lifespan of 20–30 years, achieving the higher-end cycle performance would make the NiZn battery suitable for the intended service. It is worth noting that service life projections will increase with reduced depth of discharge cycles.
Scientific Coordinator: Prof. Alberto Traverso