Gas compression with piston reciprocating compressors dates from 19th century and it is widely used today for a vast range of industrial applications. The process of compression is energetically inefficient as just ten percent of the energy consumed becomes mechanical energy as compressed gas, being the rest of the energy wasted in heating the gas, energy that must be dissipated incurring an additional energy expenditure. ABC COMPRESSORS has developed the Rotating Cylinder Compressor (CCR – Compresor Cilindros Rotativos) which adopts a disruptive concept of piston compression based in centrifugal forces. This new compressor concept enables to reduce up to 20% the energetic consumption of compressors eliminating the need of water cooling and reducing considerably the dimension (and constructive cost) of the compressor. Oil and Gas market is outlined as principal market for this project due to the big size of the market (around 50% of global compressors), growing trends, and market pressure for reduce energy consumption. More than 10.000 compressors are sold nowadays, and it is expected to have a steadily growth due to natural gas plants proliferation and old compressors replacing market in Europe and US. Taking into account existing needs, potential market, ABC COMPRESSORS` strength and knowledge in high pressure compressors and industrial markets and the possession of patented superior technology (reduction of energy consumption, reduction of price and simplicity), a clear business opportunity for ABC COMPRESSORS is outlined. In this Phase 1 project, a feasibility study will be held to analyse the viability of the whole project, analysing market, product, business and financial features in order to guarantee the profitability of the investment in the identified markets and future scenarios.

Recognising that current storage solutions are unable to stabilize enough the intermittent renewable energy production, new long term energy storage solutions are becoming mandatory. Current long-term energy storage is mainly provided by Pumped-Storage Hydroelectricity (PSH). Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) has appeared for decades as a credible alternative but its poor energy efficiency, the need of fossil fuels and the use of existing underground cavities as storage reservoirs have limited its development. Variations to CAES have shown low efficiency, losing a big percentage of energy as heat and mechanical losses. Since the 2010s, there is a strong revival of scientific and industrial interest on CAES, led by China and the European Union (EU). For the EU, leading the new generation of high-efficient, low climate-impact and long-term energy storage research, is key to increase its energy independency. In this context, the main objective of Air4NRG is the development of an innovative, efficient (over 70% RTE), long- term, and sustainable CAES prototype, which can enhance renewable energy availability and offers robustness and safety while increasing cost effectiveness and improving the environmental footprint. At the same time, it will promote innovation and competitiveness in the European energy storage industry, while prioritizing the principles of circular economy and environmental sustainability. Another key factor of the solution is the integrability to the electrical grid system and their intelligent EMS, which will be proven by the end of the project through end user integration activities (TRL5). The project will result in two prototypes: one of them will be a plug and play system fitting into a standard 40ft container with an over ten- hours storage duration, while the other will be a larger-scale system of 200kW with the same duration of storage. The developed system is a rare material-free solution with simple industrial infrastructure needs, allowing its full development within the EU, strengthening Europes position in the energy storage system sector.