Exploring the market and community acceptance of seasonal thermal energy storage technologies: Insights from a population survey in Switzerland

Abstract

Seasonal thermal energy storage (STES) is a key technology to address the seasonal intermittency of renewable energy sources and decarbonise the energy sector. Different STES solutions are market-ready or being developed, resulting in a diverse technology landscape. While this diversity adds complexity, it also presents a valuable feature that can support STES diffusion by offering adaptable solutions for diverse needs and preferences. We add a social acceptance lens to STES and examine how laypeople of the general public evaluate different STES technologies at a building and district level. We do so in a proactive manner, i.e., investigating technology acceptance before its (widespread) popularity and diffusion, to capture and compare initial acceptance patterns of STES technologies and derive potential implications of STES and its technological diversity. Empirically, we analyse and present novel cross-section survey data collected in 2022 and 2023 among Swiss residents (N = 589), capturing market and community acceptance of five different STES technologies. Our results suggest that STES technologies exhibit different ‘starting points’ regarding acceptance, with borehole, water and, to a certain extent, latent heat energy storage technologies reaching higher acceptance than ice and thermochemical energy storage technologies.