AlpStore has closed on April 30, 2015. This website stays past the end of the project to link the visitors to the project results and the follow-up activities. It allows for approaching the project partners – who will not stop contributing to the energy transition in the Alpine Space and beyond.

Please visit the download page to retrieve final reports and guidelines.

About AlpStore

Sun, water and biomass are a natural capital of the Alpine Space. It is a must to use them for the production of energy. Besides intelligent grids, storage systems will be key enablers for a future mostly renewable energy supply.

Electric vehicles (EV) will be integral elements of the future energy system. Their batteries can be charged with excessive power from intermittent energy sources and electricity can be fed into the grid to meet peak loads. Beyond short term balancing with EVs, stationary batteries can serve long term balancing needs.  They can give EV batteries a "second life” and improve overall economy of electric mobility. Other media such as gas or compressed air will add more choices. 

Partners in seven countries created master plans for the deployment of storages. Pilot tests showed the feasibility of mobile and stationary storage in public infrastructure, business parks, enterprises and smart homes. From there guidelines for planners and decision makers were derived.

 

The problem addressed

The Alpine Space (AS) is predestined for multifaceted decentralised generation of power from renewable energy sources (RES). Many of those are intermittent and power usage must better adapt to generation. While demand side management offers limited potential, intelligent storage technologies can provide for cost effective buffering in metropolitan as well as scattered habitats.

The extension of pumped hydro storages meets natural and societal barriers. Other technologies can bring added value to homes, towns and regions. Electric vehicles can provide short time balancing. Mobile storage must be combined with stationary storage (battery, gas, hydrogen). In the mobility sector gas vehicles will compete with battery electric traction systems.

No realistic storage scenarios taking into account societal, geographic and climatological characteristics of the AS had been evaluated. There was a lot of uncertainty with decision makers as to the viability of small, medium and large scale storages. With explorative and piloting actions AlpStore assessed which mixture of technologies best fit the AS needs. Then it prepared the implementation of combined storage and mobility concepts in regional and municipal planning.

 

Transnational Approach

AlpStore tackled a challenge that can only be met on a transnational base: low carbon future. The goal was a generic model that fits the needs of all AS countries. Mobile storage solutions must consider cross border applications (e. g. economic aggregration of charging flexibility).

Transnational subconsortia cooperated to develop and test respective solutions in the fields of battery electric mobility, stationary battery storage, gas and hydrogen for vehicle traction and storage. Some exchanged technology (e. g. second life batteries from CH in AT and DE). The experts cross checked the master- and im-plementation concepts so that they provide blueprints for decision making processes in all AS regions.

The STORM concept (STORM stands for "smart storage and mobility") takes into account societal, geographic and climatological characteristics of all areas of the AS. The development with a transnational team for the entire AS guaranteed acceptability for such a preferred model in all countries.