1414 Degrees SiBox™ thermal energy storage technology harnesses the extremely high latent heat capacity of silicon to enable intermittent renewables to provide flexible, ultra-high temperature heat. The flexible, scalable and sustainable technology provides a solution to a decarbonised future where large industrial systems that use high temperature heat and power will one day be able to run on clean, renewable energy.

The world’s energy supply is undergoing a profound disruption as society seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

While the decarbonisation of electricity networks is well underway, more energy is used globally in the form of heat than electricity. In fact, heat is about 50% of total global energy demand, and about 50% of energy used by industry is for process heat. This means that industrial processes need a clean heat source in order to decarbonise.

Replacing fossil fuels-based heat sources with cost-effective zero carbon energy sources is one of the greatest engineering and commercial challenges for a low-carbon energy future. Adelaide clean energy storage company 1414 has developed SiBox, a technology that uniquely stores intermittent renewable energy to produce reliable, clean, high temperature heat to address this challenge.

SiBox is the latest innovation in silicon-based thermal energy storage. It harnesses the exceptional heat capacity of silicon-based storage materials to store electrical energy in the form of heat. Energy is then dispatched as high temperature air, which can be flexibly coupled with different energy recovery systems for use as clean, firm heat or as combined heat and power.

Hence SiBox can store intermittent renewable energy and dispatch it reliably as high temperature industrial process heat, meeting the need to provide firmed, clean heat on demand as required by industrial processes.

SiBox is a flexible, scalable and customisable technology and can be co-located within an industrial plant. Our vision is that in the future large industrial systems that use high temperature heat and power will be able to run on clean, renewable energy by using SiBox

1414 Degrees has executed agreements with Woodside Energy Technologies to fund $2 million in future costs to construct a 1MWh SiBox demonstration module. The SiBox demonstration module is expected to be commissioned in early 2023 ready for extended performance testing and accelerate its commercialisation as a competitive clean energy product. The Company has previously implemented pilots which have led to the refinement and evolution of its technology

The SiBox technology offers a scalable and flexible solution to the firming of renewable energy, and the delivery of decarbonized heat. The potential significance of its future commercial use was further underscored when the company was announced as a successful recipient of a $2.2 million grant under the Commonwealth Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative. These funds will be used to continue to progress the SiBox towards commercialization.