Exactly one year after COOPERANT’s first major Swiss appearance, the project made a triumphant return to the national stage. Adina Hochuli, representing the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), stepped up as a primary organizer for the landmark 13th Swiss Symposium on Thermal Energy Storage (SSTES).
Held in Zurich, the symposium has grown into a crucial annual battleground for central European thermal storage knowledge, bringing together academic researchers, industrial developers, and grid operators. By taking the organizational reins, HSLU effectively positioned the COOPERANT project at the absolute vanguard of Switzerland’s clean energy transition.
One Year Later: Tracking the Technical Evolution
Rather than just repeating foundational concepts, Hochuli used the event to present a data-rich, updated technical poster and abstract tracking a year’s worth of concrete scientific progress.
The presentation, centered once again on the project’s “Hybrid Sensible-Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage for Concentrated Solar Power Applications,” showed the audience how COOPERANT has successfully transitioned from early-stage theoretical concepts into rigorous computational modeling and physical optimization.
Attendees at the symposium were given a look at how the team has fine-tuned the interaction between the sensible storage media (like solid particles or rocks) and the latent storage elements (phase-change materials). The updated datasets proved that by optimizing the physical placement of these materials inside the storage unit, the system can systematically eliminate internal “cold spots”—ensuring a completely uniform, ultra-high-temperature heat output during energy discharge cycles.
Fostering the Swiss-European Knowledge Exchange
Beyond the technical data, Hochuli’s dual role as both an organizer and a COOPERANT representative allowed for deep strategic networking. The symposium provided a vital platform to showcase how Swiss engineering prowess—spearheaded by HSLU—is directly fueling broader European Union decarbonization frameworks.
The heavy turnout from industrial sectors highlighted the growing market urgency for exactly what COOPERANT is building: a high-density, small-footprint thermal battery that doesn’t rely on rare-earth minerals and can easily scale to support regional power grids.
Scientific Resource: Dive into the optimized thermal models and symposium datasets by visiting the official Zenodo repository: DOI 10.5281/zenodo.19385182
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