OSLO, NORWAY — Kyoto Group AS, a thermal battery company, revealed it has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Kaura Coproducts, an ingredient producer for the pet food and aqua feed markets, on Feb. 6. Kaura will utilize Kyoto’s Heatcube thermal energy storage solution to reduce its consumption of fossil fuels.

Based in Spain, Kaura produces high value-added raw materials for animal nutrition industries and specializes in the reevaluation of animal byproducts for the energy sector. The company converts meat waste into proteins and fats to be used in animal feed, compost and biofuel, while also reducing consumption of waste, raw materials, water and energy.

With sustainability becoming an ever-increasing concern within various industries, including pet food and agriculture, Kaura will seek to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, therefore advancing environmental efforts throughout the supply chain.

Kyoto’s Heatcube provides thermal energy storage and heat generation all in one system. The solution uses various renewable energy sources to heat molten salt to a high temperature, which is then used to produce steam for production processes. The Heatcube can be customized to include storage capacities ranging from 16 to over 96 MWh with a discharge up to 5 MW.

In using renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels, the Heatcube helps industrial processors reduce their carbon emissions and lower their costs in producing process heat.

“A sustainable use of resources is at the heart of our business,” said Juan Cabotá Jiménez, head of communications at Kaura. “We want to extend this to energy resources by shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. To achieve this, we need energy storage, and the Heatcube is perfectly positioned for the process heat that we need.”

The Heatcube will be installed at Kaura’s facility. The specific Heatcube Kaura will use will have an 80 MWh storage capacity, a 10 MW charge capacity and a 5 MW discharge capacity. Kaura’s current total heat consumption at the facility is 24 GWh, annually. In using Kyoto’s Heatcube, Kaura will substitute 40% of its current fossil fuel consumption.

“We’re excited about the cooperation with Kaura, which again illustrates the potential for Kyoto in the Spanish market, where the basic idea of using molten salt to store heat is broadly accepted due to its use in concentrated solar plants,” said Tim de Haas, chief commercial officer of Kyoto. “It also illustrates the demand for sustainable heat in the agricultural industry.”

The Heatcube is expected to be installed in the first half of 2024, pending final negotiations between the two companies.

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