The Cyprus Institute launches energy storage research project in collaboration with Baromar

The Cyprus Institute, in collaboration with Baromar - which it describes as an innovative energy storage company - has announced the commencement of a joint research project on energy storage to be conducted at the Institute's PROTEAS Research Facility.

"This research initiative represents the largest private sector investment in a research project ever made in Cyprus and serves as a precursor of new collaborations in the renewable energy and energy storage sectors.," a relevant press release notes.

The two parties will install and test a system to store renewable energy in compressed air stored in underwater tanks. The terrestrial infrastructure will be placed inside the PROTEAS facility, while the tanks will be placed on the seabed at a depth of about 100m and tethered to the surface through a flexible pipe transporting the air.

"This pilot system will test the technical and economic feasibility of such a solution and pave the way for groundbreaking technologies to break into the global market for energy storage, particularly solutions targeting longer-duration storage. This will be the first compressed air energy storage project constructed in the EU in the past 50 years. The Cyprus Institute will test the technology alongside Baromar and integrate it with its systems of recovering and storing heat to increase the efficiency of the process," the press release underlines.

As pointed out in the same announcement, Baromar is a global company that has developed a simple, cheap, environmentally friendly energy storage solution.

"Operation of the project in PROTEAS is scheduled for next year. Baromar will then continue with commercial projects, which are simple to scale up and will provide large amounts of energy (>200MW) for a long duration (>8h), helping economies reach their green transition goals and significantly reduce electricity prices to consumers," the announcement said.

"The Cyprus Institute continues to be a bridge between scientific research and the needs of the real economy through its expertise and its research infrastructures, like PROTEAS. The implementation of such innovative research projects is the most effective way to drive economic investments and create new employment opportunities. This project highlights the institute's commitment to advancing renewable energy and energy storage technologies by fostering public-private partnerships, which drive technological innovation through scientific research," the press release concluded.