Energy Conversion and Management: X 5 (2020) 100017

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Energy Conversion and Management: X

journal homepage: www.journals.elsevier.com/energy-conversion-and-management-x

Seasonal energy storage in aluminium for 100 percent solar heat and T
electricity supply
Michel Y. Haller, Daniel Carbonell, Mihaela Dudita, Daniel Zenhäusern, Andreas Häberle
SPF Institute for Solar Technology, HSR University of Applied Sciences, Oberseestr. 10, CH-8640 Rapperswil, Switzerland

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: In order to reduce anthropogenic global warming, governments around the world have decided to reduce CO2
Seasonal energy storage emissions from fossil fuels dramatically within the next decades. In moderate and cold climates, large amounts of
Power-to-X fossil fuels are used for space heating and domestic hot water production in winter. Although on an annual base
Aluminium redox cycle solar energy is available in large quantities in these regions, least of the solar resource is available in winter,
when most of the energy is needed. Therefore, solutions are needed to store and transfer renewable energy from
summer to winter. In this paper, a seasonal energy storage based on the aluminium redox cycle (Al3+ → Al →
Al3+) is proposed. For charging, electricity from solar or other renewable sources is used to convert aluminium
oxide or aluminium hydroxide to elementary aluminium (Al3+ → Al). In the discharging process, aluminium is
oxidized (Al → Al3+), releasing hydrogen, heat, and aluminium hydroxide or aluminium oxide as a by-product.
Hydrogen is used in a fuel cell to produce electricity. Heat produced from the aluminium oxidation process and
by the fuel cell is used for domestic hot water production and space heating. The chemical reactions and energy
balances are presented, and simulation results are shown for a system that covers the entire energy demand for
electricity, space heating and domestic hot water of a new multi-family building with rooftop photovoltaic
energy in combination with the seasonal Al energy storage cycle. It shows that 7–11 kWp of photovoltaic in-
stallations and 350–530 kg Al would be needed per apartment for different Swiss climates. Environmental life
cycle data shows that the global warming potential and non-renewable primary energy consumption can be
reduced significantly compared to today's common practice of heating with natural gas and using electricity
from the ENTSO-E network. The presumptive cost were estimated and indicate a possible cost-competitiveness
for this system in the near future.

1. Introduction increases strongly in winter, especially in central and northern Eur-

1.1. Motivation
Heating and cooling for buildings and industry accounts for half of
the energy consumption of the European Union (EU), and 84% of this
consumption is still generated from fossil fuels [1]. Energy demand of
households, including electricity, consumes 25% of the final energy
consumption of the EU [2].
The electric energy demand in Europe is fairly constant over the
year. Fig. 1 shows that the production of electricity in winter is only
13% higher than in summer [3]. On the other hand, heat demand
opean climates, where much less solar energy is available during this
season. An example is given in Fig. 2, where the delivery of heat is
presented for each month of the year based on data of the district
heating of Munich [4]. If solar energy shall become one of the main
energy suppliers in the future, seasonal energy storage solutions will be
needed especially for covering winter heating demands in these cli-
mates. Different materials have been proposed for sensible, latent and
thermochemical storage of heat or for converting renewable electricity
to an energy vector that can be stored. The first step of Power-to-X
technologies is usually the electrolysis of water and the production of
hydrogen (X = H2). Due to its low molecular weight and small

Abbreviations: cr, crystalline; CED, Cumulated Energy Demand; DHW, Domestic Hot Water; ENTSO-E, European Network of Transmission System Operators for
Electricity; ESCO, Energy Service Company; EU, European Union; g, gaseous; GWP, Global Warming Potential (IPCC 100 years); hp, heat pump; HHV, Higher Heating
Value – gross heating value (kWh/kg); IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; l, liquid; LCA, Life Cycle Assessment; MFH, Multi-Family House (apartment
building); NR, Non-Renewable; PCM, Phase Change Material; PV, Photovoltaic; s, solid; SH, Space Heat; SIA, Schweizerischer Ingenieur- und Architektenverein –
Swiss society of engineers and architects; TES, Thermal Energy Storage; US DOE, US Department of Energy
E-mail addresses: michel.haller@spf.ch (M.Y. Haller), dani.carbonell@spf.ch (D. Carbonell), mihaela.dudita@spf.ch (M. Dudita),
daniel.zenhaeusern@spf.ch (D. Zenhäusern), andreas.haeberle@spf.ch (A. Häberle).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecmx.2019.100017
Received 6 June 2019; Received in revised form 21 August 2019; Accepted 22 August 2019
Available online 11 September 2019
2590-1745/ © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/).
M.Y. Haller, et al. Energy Conversion and Management: X 5 (2020) 100017

400 25
aluminium: 23 MWh / m3
350
20
300

MWh/m3
250 15
TWh

200 10
150
5
100
50 0

0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Renewables 2017 Non-Renewables 2017 synthetic fuels that need a

carbon source
Fig. 1. Total electricity production in OECD Europe 2017, according to the IEA
[3]. Fig. 3. Energy densities of different storage technologies on a volume base.
PCM = Phase Change Materials, based on data listed in Annex B: Energy sto-
rage densities.
20

international scale. Furthermore, the question how to cover the addi-

% of annual total

15
10
5 discussed for this purpose. The most prominent examples in this respect
0 Based on today’s market available technologies, a single-family
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Fig. 2. Monthly heat delivered by the district heating of Munich [4].
molecular size, as well as due to safety reasons, hydrogen is not well
suited for storing large amounts of energy over long time-periods.
Therefore, attempts are made to produce other gases or liquids such as
methane or methanol (X = CH4 or X = CH3OH), or to develop materials
that can store hydrogen with higher density. In general, each conver-
sion step requires energy, i.e. contributes to conversion losses, and
many of the proposed solutions require a carbon source in order to
produce a hydrocarbon fuel from H2.
Aluminium can be used to produce hydrogen and heat in reactions
that yield 0.11 kg H2 and, depending on the reaction, 4.2–4.3 kWh of
heat per kg Al. Thus, the volumetric energy density of Al (23.5 MWh/
m3)1 outperforms the energy density of hydrogen or hydrocarbons,
including heating oil, by a factor of two (Fig. 3). Aluminium (Al)
electrolysis cells can produce elementary Al from aluminium oxide
(Power-to-Al). The efficiency of this process is approximately 50%, and
it is estimated that it may be increased to almost 65% with non-con-
sumable electrodes, wetted cathodes, lower temperature electrolysis
cells, and reduction of heat losses [5]. With this process, a solid material
(Al) is obtained directly and can be stored without losses as long as
desired, with much less safety concerns than for hydrogen or hydro-
carbons.
1.2. Photovoltaic and heat pump systems
tional electricity demand in winter without falling back on fossil fuels
or nuclear power plants needs to be addressed. Power-to-X technologies
that transform electric power to an energy vector that can be stored are
are power-to-gas and derived technologies [10].
home that is insulated according to common current standards in
Europe can achieve net zero energy with a heat pump in combination
with a 7.2 kWp PV installation that covers both the electricity demand
of the heat pump as well as household electricity [7]. With the addition
of thermal storage (900 l combi-tank) and a household battery (7 kWh
capacity), such systems have been shown to increase PV self-con-
sumption and self-sufficiency to over 50%, and reduce the grid elec-
tricity demand to 20% of the useful energy delivered that is defined as
the sum of household electricity and heat for space heating and do-
mestic hot water [11]. However, the last 20% of the energy balance
relies on electricity exchange with the grid, and creates a mismatch
between the demand (higher in winter) and the supply (higher in
summer) of electricity. Therefore, a compact seasonal energy storage is
needed to further reduce the demand of non-renewable energy of
buildings in winter.
1.3. Seasonal energy storage based on Al
The idea to use aluminium as an energy carrier is not new. Rockets
have been propelled by combustion of aluminium [12], and experi-
ments with aluminium combustion for combined heat and power gen-
eration were carried out in the 80ies and 90ies in Switzerland [13].
A review article on different ways of using aluminium as an energy
carrier and storage has been presented by Shkolnikov et al. [14], and
experimental work has been conducted by various authors [15–18].
The main advantages associated with the use of aluminium as an
energy storage are:

• very high energy storage density, both by weight (8.7 kWh/kg) and
With well insulated building shells in combination with photo-
voltaics (PV) and heat pump (hp) systems, net zero energy buildings 3
even more by volume (23.5 MWh/m );
• unproblematic storability and transportability;
can be designed. On an annual base, photovoltaics are providing all the

• abundantly available in the earth’s crust (third most frequent ele-

electricity needed for household appliances as well as for the heat pump
that supplies space heating and domestic hot water [6–8]. However, in
ment);
• relatively low cost and well-known material.
these systems electricity is exported to the electricity grid in summer,
and imported in winter. Thus, the goal of the EU to foster nearly zero
energy buildings [9] may not only lead to an increased number of
As can be seen from Fig. 3, the closest competitors in terms of vo-
buildings with large areas of PV integrated into their roofs and facades,
lumetric energy storage density are coal and hydrocarbons that rely on
but also to excess PV production in summer on a local, national or even
a carbon source for their production from power-to-X technologies.
Drawbacks of these technologies are that carbon sources are not always
1
The higher heating value (HHV) or gross heating value is used for all re- readily available, and the technical or biological fixation of carbon
actions, energy densities and efficiencies in this paper. dioxide from air is increasing cost and reducing the energetic efficiency

2
M.Y. Haller, et al. Energy Conversion and Management: X 5 (2020) 100017

of these power-to-X chains. Table 1

In order to overcome the mismatch between the availability of re- Energy intensity and direct CO2 emissions for the production of aluminium
newable, in particular solar energy, in summer and the demand of heat from aluminium-hydroxide, per kg aluminium, according to today's practice of
and electricity in winter, we are proposing a seasonal energy storage calcination and the Hall-Héroult process.
based on the aluminium redox cycle (Al3+ → Al → Al3+). In section 2, Process kWh kg CO2 Reference
the analysis of the components of an energy system that can provide
Calcination 1.6 [22]
100% of the heat and electricity demand of a multi-family building all
Consumption of carbon electrodes 3.8 1.5–1.76 [20]
year around by a PV and heat pump system combined with an alumi- Electricity for smelter process 11.5–12.4 [13,20–22,24]
nium redox seasonal energy storage is presented. In Section 3, system Total 16.9–17.8 1.76
simulations for the supply of heat and electricity of a multi-family
building are presented, and in Section 4 cost estimations and environ-
mental indicators are compared with a system that covers heat demand Table 2
with a gas fired device and household energy with electricity from the Minimum energy intensity for the production of aluminium from aluminium-
European ENTSO-E network. hydroxide by calcination and inert anode smelter cells, according to thermo-
dynamic limits, per kg aluminium.

2. Methods and data Process Minimum kWh References

Calcination 0.1 (0.8a)) Eqs. (2) + (3)

2.1. Power-to-Al Electricity for smelter process with inert 8.6 Eq. (4)
electrodes
Aluminium is currently produced on industrial scale by the Hall- Total 8.7 (9.4a))
Héroult process. In this smelting process, alumina (Al2O3) is dissolved a)
in an electrolyte that contains molten cryolite (Na3AlF6) at 960 °C under assuming that the heat of vaporization from the water released by the
calcination process cannot be recovered.
ambient pressure. Most of the energy required for this electrolysis is
introduced in form of direct current electricity. However, carbon an-
reduction, inert anode technology [5] may be used that converts alu-
odes are also used and they are converted to CO2, contributing to a non-
mina to aluminium and O2 according to Eq. (4):
negligible extent both to the energy balance as well as to the global
warming potential of the process. The chemical reaction of the Hall- 2Al2O3 4Al + 3O2 ; Hr,298 = 3350 kJ/mol (4)
Héroult smelter process can be summarized as follows:
This process takes place at ambient pressure, and, depending on the
2Al2O3 + 3 C 4 Al + 3 CO2 ; Hr,298 = 2170 kJ/mol (1) electrolyte used, at temperatures between 700 and 960 °C [25]. The
According to several sources [13,19–22], the overall energetic theoretical minimum of energy required for the conversion of alumi-
consumption of a modern Hall-Héroult process is about 12.4 kWh of nium hydroxide to aluminium is shown in Table 2.
electricity plus 0.4 kg carbon electrodes (contributing with 3.8 kWh) Three types of inert anodes have been proposed for aluminium
per kg of aluminium produced. Considering that the theoretical smelter cells [20]:
minimum electricity consumption of this process is 6.23 kWh [23], the
overall electric efficiency is around 50%. An electricity consumption of • ceramics – electrodes made from inorganic, non-metallic, solid
only 11.5 kWh per kg aluminium has been reported recently by Hydro materials, e.g. SnO -Sb O -CuO
2 2 3

[24]. • cermet – a mixture of ceramics and metals, e.g.

Alumina is usually obtained from bauxite ore, which is the world's NiFe O + NiO + Cu + Ag
2 4

primary source of aluminium, typically found in top soil located in
various tropical and subtropical regions. The chemical process for
producing 1 kg of alumina from bauxite needs about 8 kWh of primary
energy [19,22]. However, in the aluminium storage concept proposed
in this paper, this effort has to be made only once since the aluminium
is regenerated within the proposed closed material cycle.
Depending on the chemical reaction that is chosen for conversion of
aluminium to heat, the oxidized aluminium product will either be in
form of alumina (Al2O3) or aluminium hydroxide (Al(OH)3). In the
latter case, alumina will have to be obtained from aluminium hydroxide
in a calcination process. As can be seen from Eqs. (2) and (3), the
theoretical energy requirement of this step depends to a large extent on
the question whether the produced water from the process can be
condensed to the liquid state or remains gaseous.
2Al(OH)3 Al2 O3 + 3H2 O(l) ; Hr,298 = 21 kJ/mol (2)
2Al(OH)3 Al2 O3 + 3H2 O(g) ; Hr,298 = 154 kJ/mol (3)
The minimum energy required for this step corresponds to 0.1 kWh
per kg Al for Eq. (2) and 0.8 kWh/kg for Eq. (3). According to Springer
& Hasanbeigi [22], current practiced processes consume around
0.83 kWh per kg alumina (Al2O3), which corresponds to 1.6 kWh per kg
Al.
The overall energy consumption and direct emissions of CO2 from
calcination and the subsequent Hall-Héroult process, are shown in
Table 1.
In order to reduce the global warming impact of the aluminium
• metal electrodes, e.g. alloys made of Ni + Fe + Cu
A short summary of the advantages and disadvantages of all three
types are given by different authors [5,25,26]. The challenge is to find a
material that is cost-efficient and corrodes only slowly in the highly
aggressive environment of the electrolyte. Corrosion and erosion lead to
frequent replacement (and thus cost) of the electrodes on the one hand,
and to impurities of the produced aluminium that stem from the cor-
roded material on the other hand. The second problem is highly im-
portant for the metallurgic industry that needs to deliver high quality
construction Al material. However, it is likely that the purity is not of
high relevance if aluminium is to be used as an energy carrier only.
The advantages of inert anodes are obvious, and several companies
and joint ventures are working on the development of inert anode
aluminium smelters. Examples are Rusal [22], Alcoa [20], the EU
funded AGRAL project [27], Aluminum Corporation of China [28], and
Arctus Metals [29].
To the best of our knowledge, a solar driven inert electrode alu-
minium smelter process has not been demonstrated yet.
2.2. Production of hydrogen and heat from aluminium
When the passivating oxide layer is removed from its surface, alu-
minium reacts exothermic with liquid or gaseous water. This reaction
produces hydrogen (H2) and, depending on the reaction temperature,
different aluminium compounds [30–32]. Up to a temperature of
280 °C, aluminium hydroxide Al(OH)3 is the most stable product (Eq.

3
M.Y. Haller, et al.
(5)). Between 280 °C and 480 °C, aluminium oxide hydroxide is pro-
duced (Eq. (6)), and above 480 °C aluminium oxide, also known as
alumina, is produced (Eqs. (7) and (8)).
2Al + 6 H2 O(l) 2 Al(OH)3 + 3 H2 ; Hr,298 = 839 kJ/mol
2Al + 4 H2 O(l) 2 AlO(OH) + 3 H2 ; Hr,298 = 862 kJ/mol
2Al + 3 H2 O(g) Al2 O3 + 3 H2 ; Hr,298 = 950 kJ/mol
2Al + 3 H2 O(l) Al2 O3 + 3 H2 ; Hr,298 = 817 kJ/mol
For the calculation of the enthalpy of reaction of Eq. (5), a formation
enthalpy of ΔHf, 298 = −1290 kJ/mol has been adopted from literature
[30,33,34] for Al(OH)3, although data was scarce and differing slightly.
A review of hydrogen production from aluminium was given by
Wang et al. [35]. Several methods have been investigated and applied
successfully for the activation of passivated aluminium surfaces, e.g.:
• Using an activator such as strong lyes (alkaline solutions): NaOH,
KOH, Ca(OH) [16,17,36,37];
2 For the envisaged system concept, a short term electric storage will
• Grinding and milling aluminium just prior to the addition of water
or while already mixed with water, possibly adding also salts [38];
• Increasing the temperature and using water vapour to react with
aluminium according to Eq. (7) [39];
• Using seawater with the addition of NaAlO [17]; 2 battery storage, or it can be covered by a small home-battery unit. In
• Using ultrasonic procedures for the preparation of the samples [40];
• Addition of Li-based [18,41] or choline hydroxide [42] activators.
The conversion of aluminium to hydrogen in alkaline
reaches nearly 100% of the theoretical yield according to
chiometric reaction [17,41], which was also confirmed by
laboratory results [43]. This leads to a first estimation of the
energy and material balance as shown in Fig. 4.
2.3. The system and its components
2.3.1. System concept
The overall system concept for heating and electricity production
for a building from on-site energy harvesting is shown in Fig. 5. The
base is a PV and heat pump system with short term battery and thermal
storage that supplies electricity and heat to the building. This system
has been completed with the aluminium converter and a fuel cell for the
supply of electricity and heat in winter when PV does not cover the
whole demand. In summer, the PV system produces more electricity
than needed for the operation of the system and the supply of the
household. This electricity is transferred through the electricity grid to
an energy service provider (ESCO) that runs the Power-to-Al process.
This process consists of the calcination step and the aluminium smelter
(electrolysis), converting oxidized aluminium into elementary alumi-
nium and thus into a storable solar fuel for use in winter.
After aluminium is produced, its surface is oxidized rapidly when in
contact with air, forming a protective oxide layer of 0.3–0.4 nm, that
prevents further oxidation of the bulk material [44]. Thus, for a sphere
of 1 mm diameter, the loss of chemical energy stored in the Al due to
1 kg Al
2.2 kWhel
0.11 kg H2
2 kg H2O
Al-to-H2 Fuel cell
2.2
2.89 kg Al(OH)3
4.3
6.5 kWhth
Fig. 4. Producing heat and electricity from the oxidation of aluminium, idea-
lized, and assuming a fuel cell electric efficiency of 50%.
Energy Conversion and Management: X 5 (2020) 100017
this oxidation process is far less than 1‰ and thus insignificant. Al solar
fuel is transported from the centralized industrial site (Power-to-Al
process) to the site of use, and oxidized aluminium is transported from
to the building back to the industrial site to complete the material cycle.
(5)
2.3.2. Fuel cells
(6)
According to various sources, the theoretical efficiency (hydrogen to
(7) electricity) of fuel cells is around 80%. However, in practical applica-
tions, efficiencies between 40 and 60% are realistic. According to Mitzel
(8) & Friedrich [45], Mitsubishi Hitachi Power systems has installed a
250 kW demonstration plant with an efficiency of 55% in Japan in
2015, and DLR (Germany) has announced to produce a 30 kW proto-
type fuel cell with an electric efficiency of around 60% in the coming
years. Because of these relatively high efficiencies that can possibly be
reached also for small scale installations in the range of few kWel, fuel
cells are the preferred option for the conversion of hydrogen into
electricity.
2.3.3. Battery
be needed for diurnal storage and to even out short term mismatch
between the production of electricity by PV or the fuel cell and the local
demand. This can be achieved by any short term storage that is pro-
vided by the grid operator, e.g. in form of pumped hydro or district
recent years, Li-ion batteries have become the dominant technology in
this field. The cost of these technologies have been reduced dramati-
cally and it is expected to further decrease substantially within the next
solutions five to ten years.
the stoi-
our own 2.3.4. Heat pumps
idealized Heat pumps are already the dominant technology for heating new
built houses in some countries like Switzerland and Sweden, and are
thought of being key elements for the future heat supply of Europe’s
building stock. They are integral parts of most nearly zero and net zero
energy building concepts [47].
2.3.5. Thermal energy storage
Thermal energy storage (TES) has been shown to be advantageous
in PV and heat pump combinations, since they can shift heat pump
operation towards times when PV electricity is available [7,11]. Thus
electricity for running the heat pump does not have to be stored in
batteries that are more expensive and have a higher environmental
impact than a TES.
2.3.6. Control
Controlling the charging and discharging of the storages and the
hydrogen production will be essential for the envisaged heat and
electricity supply system. Possibly, such a system could not only con-
tribute to a 100% solar heating and electricity coverage of a building,
but with overcapacity of the hydrogen converter and the fuel cell it
could also contribute to stabilize the grid when there is a high demand
for electricity in winter.
2.3.7. Transport logistics
The production of hydrogen from aluminium and the conversion of
hydrogen to electricity and heat in a fuel cell may be carried out by
small units at temperatures below 100 °C. Thus, these units can be
placed within a single or multi-family building without much space
requirements. On the other hand, the smelting or electrolysis process
that converts aluminium oxide to elementary aluminium is carried out
at temperatures between 700 °C and 1000 °C and requires a large size
and capacity in order to be efficient. This process needs to be carried
out at an industrial site that is connected to the private homes by the
electricity grid. Therefore, aluminium fuel has to be transported from
the industrial site to the building and place of heat demand, and solid
4
M.Y. Haller, et al. Energy Conversion and Management: X 5 (2020) 100017

Fig. 5. Schematic system concept for heat and electricity provided 100% by a photovoltaic and heat pump system with a seasonal aluminium redox storage cycle.

products from the aluminium reaction (e.g. aluminium hydroxide) have

to be transported back from the end user to the industrial site. Thus, a
service similar to providing heating oil or pellets for heating today is
envisaged, with transport volumes and weights that are likely to be
slightly lower or comparable to conventional fuels such as heating oil
that is used today.

2.4. System simulations

Dynamic simulations using the simulation environment TRNSYS-17

[48] were used to evaluate the proposed system depicted in Fig. 5. A
reference multi-family building was defined and climatic conditions
from different locations in Switzerland were used for the analyses. The
basic components to model the proposed system are: PV, Al-to-H2
converter, fuel cell, battery, heat pump, sensible thermal storage,
building, and system control. The time step of the yearly simulations
was set to 2 min. As a verification process several systematic checks
were done for all simulations.
2.4.1. Weather data
In order to assess the behaviour of the system in different locations,
weather data from the Swiss society of engineers and architects SIA was
used [49].The SIA weather data uses the standard ISO 15927-4:2005
[50] to generate a collection of so called Design Reference Years. This
collection is based on measurement data from the years 1984 to 2003.
Four locations have been chosen in order to cover the most relevant
climatic regions of Switzerland: Davos (DAV), Geneva (GEN), Zurich
(KLO) and Locarno (OTL).
Fig. 6 shows the monthly solar irradiation on the horizontal surface
for each of the selected locations. Davos is an alpine location with very
cold winters. However, it has a very high irradiation in winter. Locarno
is located south of the Alps and is characterized by very mild winters
and also high irradiation in winter. Geneva is located in the south-west
of Switzerland. It has an overall solar irradiation similar to Locarno, but
with significantly different distribution over the year, i.e. less irradia-
tion in winter, but more in summer. The last selected location is Zurich,
located in the North-Central part of Switzerland at the lake of Zurich.
Zurich has significantly less yearly irradiation compared to the other
locations.
2.4.2. Simulated building loads
A multi-family house (MFH), as described by Mojic et al. [51], was
Fig. 6. Monthly and yearly solar radiation for different locations in
Switzerland.
used as reference building for the simulations. The energy reference
area is 1205 m2 and consists of common areas and three residential
floors with a total of six dwellings. The zones and internal loads cor-
respond to the specifications of SIA 2024 [49]. The building envelope
was designed in a way that the heating requirement meets the Swiss
Minergie standard for sustainable buildings, with a standard space
heating demand of 27.1 kWh/(m2 a) for the reference weather station
Zurich SMA. The results obtained with a detailed building model from
IDA-ICE were used to fit a simplified building model in TRNSYS that is
based on ISO 13790 standard [52].
Household electricity (HHEl) and Domestic Hot Water (DHW) de-
mand profiles were created using the Load Profile Generator software
[53]. A single profile for each of the six dwellings was considered:
• Couple under 30 years old, both at work;
• family with two children (14 and 16), one at work, one at home;
• family both at work, two children (9 and 12);
• retired couple, both at home;
• shift worker couple;
• family, two children (6 and 12), both parents at home.
The six single profiles for HHEl and DHW of the apartments were
merged to one HHEl and one DHW profile. In order to check whether
the profiles are realistic, the total annual consumption for each

5
M.Y. Haller, et al. Energy Conversion and Management: X 5 (2020) 100017

Table 3 Table 5
Specific and yearly demands for space heating, domestic hot water and elec- Sizes of main components used for the provision of
tricity for the multi-family building in Zurich. heat and electricity in a multi-family building.
Energetic use Specific demanda) Total Device Size

kWh/m2 MWh Al-to-H2 converter 5 kg/h

Fuel cell 10 kWel
Space heating 27.1 29.1 Heat pump 26 kWth
Domestic hot water (without/with circulation) 15.5/20.2 16.6 Battery 100 kWh
Household electricity 18.4 19.7 TES 3 m3

a)
demand per heated floor surface area.
quantify these effects, the ratio of self-sufficiency
household was compared separately with values from the literature as R self,suff = (Elused Elgrid)/ Elused , where Elgrid is the electricity purchased
presented by Nipkow et al. [54] and the SIA 2024 standard guidelines from the grid.
[49]. The economic KPI to assess the affordability of the proposed system
The DHW profile shows an annual tapped consumption of is based on present value of energy cost in €/kWh, calculated using the
16.6 MWh. The DHW demand is in the order of 15.5 kWh/m2 of heated annuity method described in VDI 2607 [57].
surface area. Circulation losses were included such that the minimum
return temperature of the circulation loop was 53 °C for legionella 2.6. Life cycle assessment (LCA)
safety. The pipe length from the circulation loop has been defined such
that the circulation losses were around 30% of the DHW demand. In At this early stage of investigation of a novel process, only a limited
total, the DHW demand, including circulation losses, accounted for number of impact factors were analysed in the LCA. These are:
20 kWh per m2 heated surface. An overview of the electricity and heat
loads is given in Table 3. • CED total: Cumulated total primary Energy Demand
• CED non-renewable: Cumulated non-renewable primary Energy
2.4.3. Heat and electricity supply system Demand
Assumed efficiencies for the various energy conversion processes as • IPCC 2013 GWP100a: Global Warming Potential for 100 years
described in Section 2.3 are given in Table 4. the combination of the
calcination (1.6 kWh/kg Al) and smelter process (13.2 kWh/kg Al) with The proposed system concept for heat and electricity supply of a
the chemical energy that can be converted to hydrogen and heat multi-family building is compared with a conventional gas boiler for
(8.7 kWh/kg Al) leads to an anticipated efficiency of 58.7% for this heating and DHW in combination with electricity consumption from the
Power-to-Al process from Al(OH)3 to Al. ENTSO-E low voltage grid. The LCA data was extracted from SimaPro
Table 5 gives the size for components that were fixed and not varied 8.3.0.0, with inventory data from the Ecoinvent database version 3.3,
in the simulation studies. The size of the photovoltaic system was using the “cut-off” system model. Where the size of the component or
chosen such that the on-site demand of the household and the heating amount of a service or product in the database did not match the size of
system as well as the electricity demand of the aluminium smelter in the the component of our system, data was linearly extrapolated. The im-
grid can be covered. pact of the Al-to-H2 converter is assumed to be negligible. For the
aluminium production from aluminium hydroxide, the electricity is
2.5. Key performance indicators provided by the PV plant, and therefore the impact of electric energy
use in aluminium production had to be subtracted from the corre-
In order to assess the performance of the proposed system, several sponding Ecoinvent dataset, in order not to count it twice. The same
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) need to be defined. The most im- applies for the alumina input that is not obtained from bauxite mining
portant KPI on the energetic side is the PV generation ratio but from the aluminium converter. It was assumed that bauxite has only
RPV,gen = ElPV /(Elused + Elsmelter ) , where ElPV is the electricity generated to be mined once and then the energy cycle can be run for at least
by the PV field, Elused is the electricity consumed in the building in- 30 years with the alumina obtained, i.e. the impact of bauxite mining
cluding all losses and Elsmelter is the electricity used to regenerate the was counted with a factor of 0.033.
aluminium in the Al-smelter.
Ensuring that enough energy is generated is not sufficient. It is ne- 2.7. Cost estimations
cessary that the energy can be used in the system when necessary
without the need of purchasing electricity from the grid. In order to Although it is possible that first systems for seasonal energy storage
with aluminium may run as early as 2022, a large scale application is
Table 4 more likely from the year 2030 onward. Thus, our cost estimations are
Assumptions for conversion efficiencies of single process steps, in percent. made for the year 2030, including cost decrease compared to today,
mainly for components that have only recently been introduced into the
Device Process Efficiency Reference
markets and are not applied at large scale yet.
%
2.7.1. Capex
Al-to-H2 converter aluminium to 95% of stoichiometric [43]
2.7.1.1. Photovoltaics. Rooftop photovoltaic systems are state of the art
hydrogen vale
Al-to-H2 converter overall 95% of 8.7 kWh/kg [43] + Eq. (5) today and cost roughly 1500 €/kWp today. A study of the EU PV
Fuel cell H2 to electricity 50% of HHV [55,56] Platform [58] predicts a cost of 900 €/kWp for 5 kWp, about 700 €/kWp
Fuel cell overall 95% of HHV for 50 kWp and 530 €/kWp for 1 MWp in 2030. We assume a base cost of
Calcination Al(OH)3 to Al2O3 1.6 kWh/kg Al [22]
1000 € plus 700 €/kWp for 2030.
Al-smelting Al2O3 to Al 65% [5]a)

a)
according to experts in the field, the best anticipated value given in the 2.7.1.2. Fuel cell system. According to [46], more than 140,000 micro-
literature with 71% efficiency (12.1 kWh/kg Al [5]) is too optimistic, 65% ef- CHP fuel cells have been sold and installed in Japan up to now.
ficiency (13.2 kWh/kg Al) is used instead. Panasonic launched an Ene-Farm fuel cell of 0.7 kWel system in Japan

6
M.Y. Haller, et al.
El from Grid
Fig. 7. Monthly distribution of overall energy flows (left) and yearly share of energy flows into the system (right). Results for Zurich with 60 kWp PV field and a
battery of 100 kWh with a RPV,gen of 100% and Rself,suff of 99%.
promising a durability of 70,000 h, which is sold for around $12,700
before tax and installation. In general, fuel cells for electricity supply of
buildings are still an emerging technology and cost roughly
10,000–20,000 €/kWel today [45]. Some forecasts predict future
prices below 1000 €/kWel once economy of scale will have its impact
[59]. In stationary applications for buildings, hydrogen for the fuel cells
is often obtained from reforming of natural gas from gas grids since this
energy carrier is readily available, whereas hydrogen is difficult to store
and transport. When hydrogen is obtained from aluminium oxidation,
the methane or natural gas reformation process can be spared, which
reduces energetic losses as well as cost for the fuel cell system. For this
study we assumed a base cost of 1000 € plus 1000 €/kWel for a system
without methane reforming in the year 2030.
2.7.1.3. Battery system. Although the cost of a home battery system is
today still in the range of 1500 €/kWh capacity [60], battery packs for
automotive application are already available at prices of roughly 500 €/
kWh, and this cost is expected to be further reduced to 170 €/kWh in
2025 [61]. We assume a system cost of 450 € + 230 €/kWh for a home
battery system > 10 kWh in 2030.
2.7.1.4. Heat pumps. Patteeuw et al. [62] estimated the cost of an air
source heat pump for low temperature heat distribution with 7650 €
base cost plus 410 €/kW. Based on our experience from Switzerland we
assume a base cost of 6000 € plus 450 €/kWp. For a 26 kW heat pump,
our investment cost is thus 7.6% higher than the cost reported in
literature.
2.7.1.5. Thermal storage. We assume a base cost of 700 € plus 700 €/
m3, which is roughly what thermal storages cost today (e.g. Universal
Energy Storage as offered in [63]).
2.7.1.6. Al-to-H2 converter. At this moment it is difficult to estimate the
cost of a device that has never been built. However, we currently
estimate that an aluminium-to-H2 converter may be offered with a base
cost of 1500 € plus 1300 €/(kg/h).
2.7.2. Annuity cost
The annuity cost of the CAPEX has been calculated with the OPEX,
the different lifetime of the components, and an interest rate of 3%.
2.7.3. OPEX
The operational expenditures include 1% of the investment cost of
all CAPEX per year. Additionally, transporting electricity from the
private PV rooftop installations to the smelter plant is reimbursed with
0.05 €/kWh. This corresponds roughly to fees for grid services for pri-
vate consumption > 25,000 kWh/a that were lower than 0.056 €/kWh
for most cantons of Switzerland in 2019 [64]. Additionally, the energy
7
Energy Conversion and Management: X 5 (2020) 100017
PV to Heat Al-to-
system H2 and FC
34% 22%
1%
El from FC Ambient air
7% 36%
service company (ESCO) that is running the aluminium smelter plant
and organizing the transport of the aluminium fuel to the site of use as
well as the transport back is reimbursed with 1.2 € per kg of Al. Lit-
erature [65] suggests that aluminium can be produced at a cost of
150–300 US$/ton with non-carbon electrode technology. This price
does not include electric energy purchase, which in our case is included
in the cost of PV electricity and grid service; and it does not account for
alumina raw material purchase, which in our case is recycled from the
distributed units that produce electricity and heat from aluminium. It is
assumed that our smelter plant only runs for roughly one third of the
year, when renewable energy is abundant, and therefore the “normal”
production cost of roughly 200 €/ton is doubled to 400 €/ton. Sub-
tracting these 400 €/ton from the 1200 €/ton that the ESCO receives
results in 800 €/ton for transport cost and margins.
3. Results
3.1. Energy balances
Energy balances are calculated for all individual components, hy-
draulic loops and also for the entire system. The energy imbalances
were always below 1% with respect to the total energy demand.
In order to illustrate how the system performs, simulation results for
Zurich that achieve RPv,gen and Rself-suff above 99% are presented
hereafter.
The monthly and yearly energy balances of the system are shown in
Fig. 7. On the left plot of Fig. 7 the overall energy balance, including
heat and electricity, is shown with the following energy quantities:
• Heat from air: is the renewable energy extracted from the air by the
evaporator of the air source heat pump.
• Heat from Al-to-H and fuel cell: is the heat released by the chemical
2
reaction of the Al to obtain H2 from the reaction shown in Eq. (5)
and the heat released by the fuel cell in order to convert the H2 into
electricity. This heat is transferred to the thermal storage.
• PV to system: is the total net AC electricity provided by the PV
system (field and inverters).
• El from grid: is the total electricity purchased from the grid. We set
the goal to limit this flow to < 2% of total electricity use.
• El from fuel cell: is the electricity provide by the fuel cell
• DHW: is the DHW demand
• SH: is the space heating demand
• HH El: is the household electricity demand
• Loss heat and El: are the heat losses of the storage tank, pipes and
the electrical losses of the battery.
From the left plot of Fig. 7 it can be observed that most of the energy
supply in winter is needed to cover the heat demands (DHW and SH) by
M.Y. Haller, et al. Energy Conversion and Management: X 5 (2020) 100017

Fig. 8. Monthly and yearly electricity flows of the system (left) and of the PV field (right). Results for Zurich with 60 kWp PV field and a battery of 100 kWh with a
RPV,gen of 100% and Rself,suff of 99%.

by the battery (El from battery) which accounts for about 50% of the
electricity provided to the building.
In order to regenerate the Al it is necessary that the excess PV that is
fed to the grid is enough to cover the electricity demand of the calci-
nation step and smelter plant that produces the same amount of Al as is
used by the Al-to-H2 converter. The monthly and yearly distribution of
the PV production is shown on the right plot of Fig. 8. The first priority
of the control is to provide the building with electricity. Roughly half of
the building needs are provided directly by the PV and the other half
are provided through the battery. However, even in some winter
months, most of the energy provided by PV is used to regenerate the Al
in the smelter plant. This is surprising and might indicate room for
improvement of the dimensioning and control of the components.
Most likely, the Al-smelter plant will not be operated in winter. All
excess electricity in winter is likely to be always welcome by grid op-
erators since it is the time where electricity will be scarce.

Fig. 9. PV generation ratio as a function of the PV capacity for different battery 3.2. Results on different locations
sizes and locations.
3.2.1. Energy balances
the heat pump and by heat from the Al-to-H2 converter and the fuel cell. Four locations as described in Section 2.4.1 have been considered in
The heat pump uses ambient air as low temperature heat source and is order to assess the system concept in different climatic regions. Results
driven by electricity provided by the PV field and the fuel cell. The of the PV generation ratio RPV,gen are shown on Fig. 9 for the different
remaining electricity production that is provided by these two elements locations and for two battery sizes as a function of the size of the PV
is used to cover the household electricity of the building. system (PVpeak). The results that are of interest are those in which the
The yearly shares of the energy inputs that cover all the energy RPV,gen is 100%. The influence of the battery is significantly depending
needs of the building and all the losses are shown on the right plot of on the location. Interestingly, results for Davos are influenced much
Fig. 7. The ambient air used by the heat pump accounts for 36% of the more by the battery size than results for Zurich.
total share. The compressor of the heat pump needs around 12% of the The space heating demand for each location is shown in Table 6.
total energy input and the heat pump will provide 48% of the total Locarno is the location where the space heat demand is lowest and
energy in the form of heat. The other sources of heat are the Al-to-H2 100% RPVgen can be achieved with around 39 kWp of PV installation.
converter and the fuel cell, which together provide 22% of the energy Davos has the highest heating demand. However, compared to Zurich
needs as heat, and 7% of the energy needs as electricity. With the as- and Geneva it needs significantly lower PV capacity to achieve the
sumptions of Table 4 this leads to a demand of 2662 kg of aluminium
(443 kg per apartment). The PV field covers 34% of the electricity de- Table 6
Specific and yearly demands for space heating depending on the location.
mand directly or via the local battery, and only 1% is purchased from
the grid. The electricity flows of the system are shown on the left plot of Location Specific SH demanda) Total SH demand
Fig. 8. Most of the electricity demand is used for covering the household 2
kWh/m MWh
electricity (HH El) and a smaller part is used for the heating system (El
used by heat system), which is basically the heat pump compressor but Davos 42.0 42.9
it also includes circulation pumps and controls. The PV production is Zurich 27.1 29.1
distributed into direct use for household electricity (PV to HH El) and Geneva 24.2 22.6
Locarno 16.6 17.8
heating system (PV to heat system) and indirect use by means of the
battery. The indirect use of PV is included into the electricity provided a)
Demand per heated floor surface area.

8
M.Y. Haller, et al. Energy Conversion and Management: X 5 (2020) 100017

Fig. 10. Energy shares supplied to the system (positive) and out of the system (negative) for Davos (left) and Zurich (right) for a case with PVgen 100%.

target of 100% RPVgen. Geneva needs also significantly lower installed Table 7
PV capacity compared to Zurich, while the heat demand is only slightly Cost and installed PV capacity that reach a RPVgen > 99% and Rself,suff > 98%
lower. The main reason for these large differences are the availability of with a battery of 100 kWh.
solar radiation and its distribution over the year. Location Capacity of PV system Cost Amount of Al
A comparison of the energy shares provided to the system (positive)
and extracted/delivered by the system (negative) are shown in Fig. 10 kWp (m2)a) €/kWh kg
for Davos and Zurich. Even that the installed PV capacity is 30% lower 2
Davos 42.3 (252 m ) 0.14 2198
in Davos, the share that PV contributes directly is slightly higher Zurich 60.5 (360 m2) 0.20 2662
compared to Zurich. In Davos, much less energy is provided by the Al- Geneva 48.7 (290 m2) 0.20 2740
to-H2 converter, which means that less Al is needed for the Al redox Locarno 39 (232 m2) 0.19 1858
cycle. The lower amount of energy provided by the Al-to-H2 converter a)
Area is calculated with a nominal power of 186 W/m2. Lower areas are
is compensated by ambient air in the heat pump, i.e. by direct heat
needed for modules with higher efficiency.
pump operation with PV electricity.

3.2.2. Cost analysis
The energy cost of the systems as a function of the PV generation
ratio RPVgen are shown in Fig. 11. Results for RPVgen = 100% are de-
tailed in Table 7.
The energy cost of Davos are in the range of 0.14 €/kWh and thus
well below the cost of all the other locations. It is worth to notice that
simulations in Davos are neglecting the possibility of snow covering the
PV field and therefore the cost may be underestimated. The cost of the
other locations vary between 0.19 €/kWh and 0.20 €/kWh. Among
these, Locarno shows the lowest specific cost, followed by Geneva and
finally by Zurich.
Details of the investment cost and energy generation cost are pro-
vided in Table 8 for the city of Zurich. The cost assumptions have been
provide in Section 2.8. The investment cost shares and annuity cost for
energy generation are shown in Fig. 12. According to this evaluation
and the assumed cost, the most relevant investment cost are the PV
installation and the battery. Regarding the annuity shares, 52% of the
cost are allocated to the investment cost, followed by the service of the
ESCO that is regenerating aluminium as fuel (24%) by running the
power-to-X process and the cost for using the electricity grid (15%) to
transmit the excess electricity from the generation to the Al-smelter

Fig. 11. Energy cost as function of PV generation ratio RPVgen for several locations using a battery of 100 kWh capacity.

9
M.Y. Haller, et al. Energy Conversion and Management: X 5 (2020) 100017

Table 8
Investment cost and energy generation cost using a 100 kWh battery for Zurich. Interest rate for annuity calculation: 3%.
Major Component Costs [€] Size Life time [years] Total Costs [€]

PV 1000 + 700/kWp 60 kWp 25 43,350

Battery 450 + 230/kWh 100 kWh 15 23,450
Thermal Storage 700 + 700/m3 3.5 m3 40 3150
Heat pump 6000 + 450/kW 26 kW 25 17′700
Fuel Cell 1000 + 1000/kWel 10 kWel 20 11′000
Al reactor 1500 + 1300/kg/h 5 kg/h 25 8′000
Total Investment Cost 106,650
Annuity cost yearly costs over lifetime 13,131/a
Investment 6805/a
Electricity from grid (0.3 €/kWh) 289 kWh 87/a
Maintenance (1% of investment cost) 1066/a
Aluminium fuel service (1.2 €/kg) 2662 kg 3195/a
Transmission grid (0.05 €/kWh) 39,934 kWh 1997/a
Energy generation costs Based on annuity cost 0.20 €/kWh

Al-to-H2 El.
Fuel Cell converter Transmitted Capital Cost
10.3% 7.5% through the 52%
grid
15.00%

Heat Pump Fuel Cost -

16.6% PV (Al
40.6% regereratio)
24.00%

El.
TES
Purchased
3.0% Maintenance
Battery from the grid
22.0% 1% 8.00%

Fig. 12. Investment cost (left) and annuity cost (right) shares for Zurich (data from Table 8).

3.3. Results of environmental life cycle assessment
An overview of the results from the LCA is given in Table 9 for the
100% solar system with the aluminium seasonal energy storage, and in
Table 10 for a reference system with natural gas heating and electricity
from the grid. Fig. 13 shows impressively that for the conventional
system only the gas and electricity consumption are relevant. For the
100% solar PV driven system with Al seasonal storage, the PV system is
by far the most dominant factor if inert electrode technology is used for
the aluminium production. The conventional Hall-Héroult smelter
process would increase the non-renewable primary energy demand by
less than 20%, but it would increase the GWP by 52%. However, even
with the conventional smelter process the PV system remains the
dominant impact factor for both, the non-renewable primary energy
demand as well as the GWP. Transport of aluminium fuel from the in-
dustrial site to the point of use and transport of Al(OH)3 back to the
industrial site has been taken into account with a distance of 100 km
each. Since roughly 3 metric tons of Al(OH)3 have to be transported
back for each metric ton of Al that is used, this leads to 1065 t-km for
the transport service. The LCA data-set for a 7.5–15 metric ton lorry of
emission category Euro 6 has been used for the calculation. It shows
that the impact of transport is almost negligible as long as the distance
remains shorter than 100 km, but may become quite significant for
distances in the range of 1000 km or more.
Overall, the new system concept with inert electrode technology is
estimated to reduce non-renewable primary energy consumption by a
factor of three, while it reduces GWP by 55%.
While for the conventional system the emissions are inherently
connected to the consumption of natural gas and electricity from the
grid, in the 100% solar system the emissions are connected to the
embodied energy in the PV installation and thus reflect the share of
renewable energy used for the production of the PV panels, the
mounting system and inverters. This opens the possibility to decrease
the GWP and non-renewable primary energy consumption by in-
creasing the efficiency of PV modules or by increasing the share of
renewable energies in the PV production process.
4. Conclusions
Long term energy storage will be essential for the energy transition,

Table 9
LCA data for the assessment of the 100% solar heat and electricity system.
Component Size/amount Lifetime (years) CED total (kWh oil eq/a) CED non-renewable (kWh oil eq/a) GWP 100a (kg CO2 eq/a)

Air-water heat pump 26 kW 25 370 341 276

PV system 60 kWp 25 26′112 22′536 6′547
Li-ion battery 100 kWh 15 5′987 5′371 1′485
Fuel cell 10 kWel 20 2′531 2′306 719
TES 3500 l 40 449 387 117
Transport of Al and Al(OH)3 1065 tkm 1 1015 1001 225
Aluminium smeltinga) 2662 kg 1 4672 4485 370
Total 41,135 36,428 9739
Additional impact of Carbon anodes 4′836 4′661 4′929

a)
with inert anodes and assuming Al replacement every 30 years (3.3% loss rate).

10
M.Y. Haller, et al.
Table 10
LCA data for a conventional gas boiler and electricity from the ENTSO-E grid.
Component Size/amount Lifetime (years)
Useful heat from gas boiler 45,640 kWh 1 55,378
Electricity* 19,703 kWh 1 62,308
TES 1200 l 25
Total
* from grid ENTSO-E low voltage.
especially for countries with a high heat demand in winter, but limited
potential to increase renewable energy generation or import renewable
energy in this season at affordable cost.
4.1. Energy storage capacity of aluminium
Aluminium has a high storage density. Theoretically, 8.7 kWh of
heat and electricity can be produced from 1 kg of Al, which is in the
range of heating oil, and on a volumetric base (23.5 MWh/m3) even
surpasses the energy density of heating oil by a factor of two.
4.2. The Power-to-Al process
Aluminium is produced in large quantities worldwide from alumi-
nium oxide (alumina) with the Hall-Héroult process with roughly 50%
energetic efficiency (electric and carbon-anode input to chemical en-
ergy stored in Al). This electrolysis process uses carbon anodes that are
consumed and converted to CO2 by the redox reaction. Since these
carbon anodes are usually made from coal and tar of fossil origin, this
process emits substantial amounts of greenhouse gases. Therefore, inert
or non-consumable electrode processes should be used for an Al redox
energy storage cycle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as much as
possible. Literature suggests that the process of inert electrode Al
smelting could reach an electric efficiency higher than 50%, i.e. 60% or
even 65%.
4.3. Production of heat and hydrogen from aluminium
The production of heat and hydrogen from aluminium with sub-
sequent conversion of hydrogen in a fuel cell to electricity, heat and
water may be carried out at temperatures of 50–70 °C. Ideally, this
yields roughly 6.5 kWh of heat and 2.2 kWh of electricity, assuming a
complete reaction of Al to aluminium hydroxide and an electric effi-
ciency of the fuel cell of 50%. It is expected that the components ne-
cessary for these conversions can be built with moderate cost and re-
quire little maintenance, such that they can be installed and operated in
single or multi-family houses. However, the conversion of alumina to
aluminium requires a smelting process that involves a highly aggressive
Energy Conversion and Management: X 5 (2020) 100017
CED total (kWh oil eq) CED non-renewable (kWh oil eq) GWP 100a (kg CO2 eq)
54,871 11,896
54,012 9840
246 212 64
117,932 109,095 21,801
electrolyte and takes place at 750–960 °C. This process is unlikely to be
suitable for an application in a residential building. Therefore, it is
proposed that the envisaged energy storage cycle will be split into the
“storage charging” reactions that consist in converting aluminium hy-
droxide to alumina and then to aluminium, and the “storage dischar-
ging” reactions that produce heat and electricity. While the charging
reactions take place at an industrial site and with larger scale conver-
sion units, the discharging is done where and when heat is needed and
can be carried out in small buildings down to the size of single- and
multi-family homes. In this energy storage system, aluminium “fuel” is
transported from the industrial site to the individual buildings and
aluminium hydroxide is transported back to the industrial site.
4.4. 100% solar energy supply for buildings
It is proposed that owners of individual buildings extend their solar
and PV heat and electricity supply systems with an aluminium con-
version unit and become prosumers in the sense that they produce and
export electricity in summer for conversion into an aluminium “fuel” at
the industrial site, and consume this Al in winter. This requires new
business models and contracts between the home owners and energy
service companies (ESCOs) that transport electricity and fuel and
manage the aluminium hydroxide calcination and aluminium smelting
facilities.
Our simulations of a six dwelling multi-family house insulated ac-
cording to the current legal requirements in different climates of
Switzerland show that 1800–2800 kg of Al “fuel” would have to be used
for the supply of heat and electricity in winter in combination with a PV
plant size of 39–61 kWp, a heat pump and an electric storage. This
corresponds to 300 to 470 kg Al and 6.5 – 10.2 kWp PV per dwelling.
Our cost estimation for the year 2030, that includes anticipated cost
reductions compared to today, shows that energy prices (heat and
electricity mixed) in the range of 0.20 €/kWh (end-consumer,
CAPEX + OPEX) may be realistic. Thus, 100% solar heating and elec-
tricity supply of buildings may be possible at a price that is competitive
to today's energy prices in some places and for some of the traditional
energy carriers, if CAPEX of traditional converters (burners, storage)
and installations (grid connections, exhaust ducts or chimneys) are
Fig. 13. Cumulated non-renewable primary energy
(CED) and global warming potential (GWP 100a) for
a conventional gas boiler and grid electricity system
and for the 100% solar driven heat and electricity
system with seasonal Al energy storage. The impact
of the carbon electrode consumption of the conven-
tional Hall-Héroult process is shown light texturized
since it is not envisaged to be part of the final system
concept.
11
M.Y. Haller, et al. Energy Conversion and Management: X 5 (2020) 100017

accounted for.
In our simulations and cost calculations, short term battery storage
has been included at the building level, but it is well possible that better
economics can be achieved by installing batteries at district level by the
ESCOs to provide the short term flexibility as a service to the home
owners.
55% for GWP100. The main contributor to non-renewable energy con-
sumption and GWP100 is the production and installation of the PV plant.
It is expected that this impact will be reduced in the future, as a con-
sequence of higher PV module efficiencies and progress in PV manu-
facturing technologies, and due to a higher share of renewable energy
supply in the production of PV panels and mounting materials.

4.5. Environmental LCA Declaration of Competing Interest

In terms of primary energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, our
analysis shows that non-renewable primary energy consumption can be
reduced by 62% and greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by 33%
compared to a conventional system with natural gas heating and elec-
tricity from the ENTSO-E low voltage grid if today's Hall-Héroult pro-
cess is used for aluminium smelting. If carbon anodes can be replaced
by inert or non-consumable anodes that do not lead to CO2 and other
greenhouse gas emissions from the smelting process, then the reduc-
tions are in the range of 67% for non-renewable primary energy and
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy
(SFOE) in the frame of the project HybridStock (SI/501693-01) and by
HSR University of Applied Sciences of Rapperswil, Switzerland.

Annex A. Thermodynamic properties

Symbols

• ΔH Standard molar enthalpy (heat) of formation at 298.15 K in kJ/mol

f,298

• S Standard molar entropy at 298.15 K in J/mol K

298

• ΔG Standard molar Gibbs energy of formation at 298.15 K in kJ/mol

f,298

• C Molar heat capacity at constant pressure at 298.15 K in J/mol K

p,298

• C Heat capacity [J/(mol·K)] at temperature T, in temperature range indicated in the table and expressed by the equation: C
p p=a+ bT + c′/T2

Thermodynamic data

From standard enthalpy of formation (ΔH°f,298) presented in Table A.1, the enthalpy of reaction is calculated using Eq. (A.1):
Hr,298 = ( np H°f,298 ) products ( nr H°f,298 )educts (A.1)
Table A.1. Standard thermodynamic data at 298.15 K for the species involved in the presented reactions.

Symbol ΔHf,298 (kJ/mol) S298 J/(mol·K) ΔGf,298 (kJ/mol) Cp,298 J/(mol·K) Coefficients of the equation Cp,298 = f(T) ΔT K

a b∙103 C′∙10−5

Al(cr) 0 28 0 20.67 12.38 0 298–933

H2(g) 0 131 0 28.8 27.28 3.26 0.50 298–3000
Cgraphite 0 6 0 8.53 17.15 4.27 −8.79 298–2300
O2(g) 0
Al2O3(cr) −1675 51 1582 79 114.6 12.89 −34.31 298–1800
H2O(l) −286 70 −237 75.3 – – – 298
H2O(g) −242 189 −229 33.6 30 10.71 0.33 298–2500
Al(OH)3(s) −1277 85 −1150
AlO(OH) −1003
CO2(g) −394 214 −394 298–1200

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Annex B. Energy storage densities

Table B1. Maximum energy densities repoerted for different energy carriers or energy storage media.

Energy carrier/energy storage Gravimetric (MWh/t) Volumetric (MWh/m3) Source/assumptions

Phase change material (PCM) 0.20 0.30 Sterner & Stadler 2014
Batteries 0.22 0.35 Landi et al. 2009
Sorption processes 0.60 1.00 Stritih & Koželj 2017
Hydrogen 39.4 2.45 39.4 MWh/t, 700 bar
Biomass 6.40 3.50 McKendry 2002, wood pellets
Methane 15.4 7.70 15.4 MWh/t, 700 bar

12
M.Y. Haller, et al.
Mineral oils 12.6
Coal 9.70
Aluminium 8.7
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