French compressed air energy storage system for homes and businesses

French multinational Segula Technologies has unveiled the Remora Stack, a sustainable renewable energy storage solution for industry, residential eco-districts, shopping centers, power plants, and public infrastructure.

The Remora Stack is a standard, 12 m-container installed system which its manufacturer says has a process efficiency of 70%.

“The entire system has a useful life of at least 30 years, generates no polluting emissions and, unlike batteries, uses robust and durable materials,” said the engineering firm, adding the product does not feature lithium or rare earth elements.

The new product uses a patented isothermal air compression method developed by Segula and builds on the engineer’s Remora technology, which was designed to store renewable energy underwater.

The Remora Stack system is for large energy users and the Remora Home product is for residential energy storage. The former system’s storage capacity depends on the size of compressor and its compressed air storage capacity, and can be tailored to the needs of clients.

“We’ve been working on Remora technology and its potential applications for about ten years,” said David Guyomarc’h, Segula’s head of R&D. “Eventually, the Remora Stack will be able to store energy for more than ten hours.”

Remora Stack is part of the EU-funded Air4NRG collaborative project. Segula is piloting the development of test facilities to evaluate the Remora Stack under real-world conditions. Prototypes will validate performance and fine-tune the technology before industrialization.

Two industrial-scale prototypes, with a power output of 200 kW each, will be built in Spain, in Eibar and Bilbao. Those sites will be installed in collaboration with project partners the Belgian consultancy Zabala, Spain’s ABC Compressors, Portuguese utility EDP, French technological university IMT Atlantique, Spanish engineer Lomartov, communications agency Icons, French electricity transmission system operator RTE, and Portuguese company R&D Nester.

The first industrial-scale pilot project is planned for 2026, and the first Remora Stack production units for the 2028/29 fiscal year.

From pv magazine España.