ECHO Project is pleased to announce its participation in the upcoming workshop “Compact TES of the Future: from Challenges to Opportunities,” which will take place in Lipari (Italy) on June 24th, 2025, from 14:00 to 16:00 at the International Congress on Sustainable Energy and related Technologies (ICSET 2025) – DORIDE ROOM.

This event will explore cutting-edge advancements and challenges in the development of compact and efficient thermal energy storage (TES) solutions for residential buildings.

Organized by four pioneering European projects—ThumbsUp, Best Storage, Hystore, and ECHO—this workshop aims to address key issues such as material efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and the integration of TES with renewable energy sources. Participants will have the opportunity to gain valuable insights from leading experts, discuss the latest research findings, and engage in interactive discussions on the future of thermal energy storage.

  • 24 June 2025

  • 14:00 – 16:00

  • International Congress on Sustainable Energy and related Technologies (ICSET 2025)

  • Doride Room

  • Lipari island (Italy)

Workshop Agenda

14:00 – 14:15: Welcome and Introduction

  • Sara Attanà (beWarrant – Tinexta Innovation Hub)

14:15 – 15:00: Project Presentations: Progress and Achievements

  • ECHO Project: Thermal energy storage potentialities and constraints – Sergio Bobbo (CNR-ITC)
  • Phase change slurry energy storage for cooling load shifting (BEST-Storage) – Daniel Carbonell (OST)
  • Demonstration of sector-coupling based on advanced thermal energy storage: a model predictive control framework for load-shifting and grid-balancing (Hystore) – Ilaria Marotta (CNR-ITAE)
  • ThumbsUp Project – Balancing the grid one building at a time: Optimizing thermal storage strategies – Guillermo Andrés Nieto (Veolia)

15:15 – 15:45: Identifying Key Challenges for Each Project

  • Andrea Frazzica (CNR-ITAE)

Hands-on Discussions: Addressing Challenges and Exploring Solutions

  • Looking inside the box: Power-to-X possibilities unlocked by compact TES – Sergio Bobbo (CNR-ITC), Dani Carbonell (OST), Andrea Frazzica (CNR-ITAE), Ilaria Marotta (CNR-ITAE)
  1. Thermal Energy Storage: Size of the internal equipment and installed power vs energy density reached/required for its application. 
  2. Thermal Energy Storage: Source/sink and temperature lift for the technology to optimally work. 
  3. Thermal Energy Storage: Material degradation, low conductivity, state of charge estimation, cost reduction. 
  • Looking outside the box: TES for easy integration – Guillermo Andrés Nieto (Veolia), Juan Carlos del Castillo Garcia (CARTIF), Maria Chiesa (beWarrant – Tinexta Group), Marco Rocchetti (R2M Solution)
  1. Social acceptability in residential buildings & TES application feasibility in residential vs industrial sector. Affection of local RES availability, DHNs and grid tariffs. 
  2. TES integration in actual facilities and actual energy flexibility potential. PtH & TES solutions vs electrical batteries. 
  3. Suitable business cases for TES solutions: Prices, market applications, offered value. 

15:45 – 16:00 Concluding Remarks and Group Reports

  • Andrea Frazzica (CNR-ITAE) & Maria Chiesa (beWarrant – Tinexta Innovation Hub)

This workshop follows the “Thermal Energy Storage System Workshop” held in Savona, Italy, on September 6th, 2023, during the SUPEHR23 international conference. In Savona, experts and researchers provided feedback on improving TES solutions, identifying four key challenges common to all participating projects:

  • Power-to-heat capabilities unlocked by the TES solutions.
  • Integration and installation within buildings.
  • Tenants’ perspectives on TES.
  • TES modeling approaches.

During the workshop in Lipari, each project will present the current status of their technical activities, highlighting how they have addressed these previous challenges and discussing new obstacles they aim to overcome before project completion. Additionally, an interactive session will be held to gather feedback from participants, helping refine future TES developments.

The “Compact TES of the Future” workshop represents a significant step forward in the development of efficient and sustainable thermal energy storage technologies. ECHO is proud to contribute to these discussions and looks forward to engaging with industry leaders, researchers, and stakeholders in Lipari.

ICSET 2025, Lipari