Swedish storage company Azelio has started producing electricity from energy storage at a verification project at the Noor-Ouarzazate solar power station in Morocco.
Two energy storage modules store energy from PV modules in the form of heat. A Stirling engine in each module then converts the heat energy stored to electricity.
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The storage units are charged with electricity generated by 1,000 square metres of solar panels, according to Azelio.
The verification project is being run in partnership with state-owned company, the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen).
Over the coming months, the storage modules' performance will be monitored and measured on-site in order to prove the solution's bankability to customers and investors.
“We have now laid the foundations for the industrialisation of our technology, and I look forward to starting to turn the great interest shown in Azelio's solution into actual orders next year,” said Jonas Eklind, Azelio chief executive officer, in a statement.
The 580MW Noor-Ouarzazate complex is an operational hybrid PV-plus-CSP plant found south of the Atlas mountains, seven hours drive from capital Rabat. It comprises 70MW of PV.
A second, even larger, hybrid PV-plus-CSP-plus-storage project is in development in Morocco, named Noor-Midelt. France’s EDF, Abu Dhabi’s Masdar and Morocco’s Green Africa were selected by MASEN in a competitive bidding process to develop the site, which will have a capacity of 600-800MW.
Azelio also announced on Monday that it rased SEK350 million (US$37 million) from an oversubscribed rights issue.
The funds will go towards the commercialisation of its thermal energy storage technology and Stirling-based electricity generation as well as operations.
Azelio specialises in Sterling-based energy solutions. It has plans for installations in Oman, Pakistan and California.
