Heat storage requirements

A heat storage for cooking should fulfill some requirements in order to meet normal cooking expectations and in order to increase the likelihood of local implementation. The suggested list of requirements may be modified when targeting systems for European households, which are typically either electrical or natural gas. 

Requirements	Comments
Use of renewable energy sources	This excludes LPG or other fossil fuels
Clean and harmless	No safety or toxic threats to humans or the environment
Local production and maintenance	Opportunities for local businesses
Technically robust and simple	Low risk of technical failure
Adjustable power for cooking	High power to bring water to boiling.  Low power for long term simmering at boiling point
High temperatures on the frying pan and sufficient heat transfer during frying	Acceptable temperatures for frying appear to be in the range  180 ±20 °C.
Scalable	Adaptable to small and large scale cooking needs (households to institutions)
Socio-economic viable	Socially acceptable and at affordable costs
Heat storage as buffer during direct cooking	Heat transfer should be possible to and from the heat storage, to absorb fluctuations in the charging power and variations in the cooking power needed.
Sufficient insulation	Sufficient insulation is important for the ability to harvest low power energy and for the heat retention properties of the storage.
Hybrid power sources	A heat storage system should preferably be able to accept direct heating (Heating panels or concentrators) and indirect heating (electric power from PV, wind and hydro generators)