Wolf Theiss has advised the Kyoto Group on the agreement to deliver its Heatcube thermal energy storage system to Hungarian food ingredient producer KALL Ingredients.
Together with financial partner Kyotherm and energy trading partner in Hungary Energiaborze, the Kyoto Group has "entered into a set of agreements to deliver Heat-as-a-Service to KALL Ingredients, while also acting commercially as a balancing asset on the Hungarian grid. The total investment cost will amount to EUR 6.4 million," Wolf Theiss reported.
The transaction also included a long-term heat purchase agreement; the engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the building phase; and the operation and maintenance agreement for the operating period. According to the firm, "the 15-year heat purchase agreement outlines the commercial conditions for delivering high-quality steam to one of the newest corn processing plants in Europe, which was installed as a greenfield investment in 2017."
The Heatcube is a thermal energy storage system that uses molten salt and excess electricity. It will reduce KALL's current natural gas demand and is designed with 56 megawatt-hours of storage capacity, offering an annual capacity of more than 30 gigawatt-hours. This will result in a carbon dioxide reduction of up to 8,000 tons annually.
The Heatcube also contributes to the balancing of the Hungarian grid by taking excess energy from the public network when available, which is a much-needed solution given prevailing market conditions in Hungary, Wolf Theiss noted. The parties intend to install the Heatcube within the next 12 months and commissioning and final hand-over to KALL Ingredients will take place in December 2024.
The Wolf Theiss Team was led by Partner Laszlo Kenyeres and Associate Adam Lukonits and included Associate Dori Budai.