The FREE project, the continuous production of renewable energy
Five Belgian universities (ULB, UCL, UMons, VUB and UGent) are working together to achieve the chemical storage of electricity produced by photovoltaic panels and wind turbines, in order to ensure their constant availability. This is the objective of the inter-university project FREE.
UCL, ULB, UMons, VUB and UGent are collaborating to realise the FREE project (Flexible eneRgy vEctors of the futurE), which is supported by Engie Electrabel and the Fund for Scientific Research. The initiative was launched in 2016 by professors Hervé Jeanmart (UCL) and Francesco Contino (VUB).
The FREE project aims to enable the storage of energy for later use, in the event that the photovoltaic panels or wind turbines would be insufficient for the production of continuous renewable electricity. There are various forms of storage but the most promising is chemical storage. However, this method hasn't yet reached a satisfactory level of maturity.
The university research teams focusing on energy, thermodynamics, engines and chemistry, will collaborate with various entities of the Engie Electrabel Group in Belgium. This company promotes scientific research by collaborating in particular with the Belgian academic world. Its research and innovation programme focuses on the challenges of energy transition.
Chemical storage consists of using the surplus of electricity collected during the overproduction phases of wind turbines and photovoltaic panels, to generate hydrogen via the process of water electrolysis. This hydrogen is then used or transformed for the composition of methane, methanol or ammonia. These substances can then be preserved in liquid or gas form, and can be used for the production of electricity in the event of a shortage. The FREE project will allow this method of fuel yield to be perfected, so that it can be used at moments of heavy demand. This electric network is currently a major topic in the area of energy.
Three main areas of research are planned: the first will establish a study on the research already undertaken in the area of renewable electricity storage (by UCL), the second will study the efficiency of fuels in a gas motor (by UCL, VUB and UGent), and the third will study the increase in CO2 emitted by gas turbines (by ULB, UMons and VUB).