PhD defense alert: Robin Tassenoy

Dynamic Behavior of Large-Scale Vapour Compression Heat Pumps in Carnot Batteries for Grid Services

You are invited to join the PhD Defense of:

Name: Robin Tassenoy

Title: Dynamic Behavior of Large-Scale Vapour Compression Heat Pumps in Carnot Batteries for Grid Services

Topic:

Renewable electricity generated by solar panels or wind turbines plays an increasingly significant role in our electricity production. As this renewable production fluctuates with the weather conditions, large-scale energy storage becomes important to match supply and demand.

Carnot batteries are an emerging storage concept consisting of a heat pump, thermal storage system and a heat-to-power cycle. The aim is to store energy as heat which comes from a heat pump that uses excess renewable electricity. This stored heat can at a later time be converted into electricity with a heat-to-power cycle. If this system can be used flexibly and with a fast response time, it also allows to offer financially attractive grid balancing services. Until now, financial assessments done before assumed that the heat pump could indeed respond quick enough, yet this had not yet been proven.

In this PhD, the power dynamics of industrial heat pumps were studied in detail using numerical models. The results show that the system does indeed allow for flexible and fast response, therefore enabling its application in grid balancing services. Carnot batteries and large-scale heat pumps can thus contribute effectively to a climate-neutral energy supply.

Date defense: 3 February 2026 | 5 PM

Online: link to follow online