Important social and technical factors shaping the prospects for thermal energy storage

Thermal energy storage is likely to be integral to a sustainable, secure and affordable energy system facing ever greater challenges in matching supply and demand. Techno-economic studies have explored the potential for thermal storage deployment, but transitions in the energy system are also influenced by the activities and decisions of an array of actors. We gathered new empirical evidence from a desk-based survey on thermal energy storage in the UK and through a sociotechnical analysis explored the status and role of thermal storage in the energy transition. We find the technology remains a relatively niche approach in the UK subject to complex national and local policy and governance arrangements and the impacts of a stable fossil-based heating regime benefitting from significant lock-in effects. Whilst we acknowledge the limitations of a focus on single technology-systems to deliver the transformative energy system change required, we find thermal storage delivering both local and national benefits to support system balancing and mitigate seasonal peaks in demand, whilst having the potential to deliver other benefits. Promising innovations in business models are helping to enable thermal storage deployment, and these are also applicable to low carbon heat provision more widely.