Eaton Joins EU-supported InterSTORE Consortium to Support Energy Transition With Unified Energy Storage

Intelligent power management company Eaton announced its involvement in a pan-European research and innovation project to develop seamless IT infrastructure for energy storage systems.

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“The sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow—so widespread energy storage is vital to Europe’s successful transition to renewables and the electrification of everything”

Launched on January 1 and scheduled to run for three years, the InterSTORE project (“Interoperable open-source tools to enable the hybridization, utilization and monetization of storage flexibility”) is supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation program. Eaton joins 11 other members in the project consortium, which is coordinated by RWTH Aachen University and includes academic partners, as well as other companies, industry associations and standards organizations.

The mass adoption of energy storage is vital to enabling Europe’s energy transition, and this demands both standardization and interoperability. To maximize benefits for operators, vendors, suppliers and end users, energy storage equipment and systems must be able to communicate seamlessly, irrespective of their age or manufacturer. To this end, the InterSTORE project aims to achieve four key goals:

• Provide four open-source software tools for assuring interoperability, flexibility and data standardization;
• Consider all relevant aspects of the flexible use of hybrid energy storage systems in four principal areas of application (electric vehicles, industrial, residential and commercial);
• Demonstrate seven high-impact use cases in four real-life laboratories;
• Deploy beyond state-of-the-art methods to enable the hybridization, utilization and monetization of flexible storage, while also ensuring standardization across the data space.

“The sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow—so widespread energy storage is vital to Europe’s successful transition to renewables and the electrification of everything,” says Dominik Laska, director, Eaton European Innovation Center. “However, today’s solutions are very diverse and often incompatible. To enable widescale adoption, we need a unified approach to energy storage management. I’m delighted we’re joining forces with our expert InterSTORE partners to help develop an innovative and agnostic solution that can support third-party software or hardware and so deliver a significant real-world impact.”

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Currently, Eaton’s Energy Management System (EMS) is designed to optimize GreenMotion EV chargers, xStorage Compact battery packs, and photovoltaic panels. As part of the InterSTORE consortium, Eaton will work with other EMS providers to identify differences and synergies between their solutions. Novel optimization concepts will then be developed and incorporated to enable the integration of different types of energy storage, such as heat pumps and electrolyzers. Eaton’s concepts and control algorithms will also be validated and demonstrated at the Forschungszentrum Jülich research institute.

“As a member of the InterSTORE project, our goal is to create seamless solutions that can support multiple types of energy storage, while also building a rock-solid commercial case for mass adoption,” says Anne Lillywhite, senior vice president and general manager, Energy Transition, Digital & Services, Electrical Sector, EMEA. “Our engineers will develop a toolkit for EMS interoperability, as well as a deeper understanding of user requirements and possible business models. In today’s environment of rising energy prices, tighter emissions regulation, and increasingly eco-conscious consumers, this is a fantastic opportunity to pioneer crucial new technologies that will contribute to decarbonization and a more sustainable future.”

Eaton is an intelligent power management company dedicated to improving the quality of life and protecting the environment for people everywhere. We are guided by our commitment to do business right, to operate sustainably and to help our customers manage power ─ today and well into the future. By capitalizing on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalization, we’re accelerating the planet’s transition to renewable energy, helping to solve the world’s most urgent power management challenges, and doing what’s best for our stakeholders and all of society.

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