Decentralised multi energy systems
For everyone who thinks in decades.
The long-duration storage system that fits inside the building. Electricity, heat and flexibility from a single system.
The origin
DMES is not a term we invented. It is Switzerland's recommendation.
Decentralised multi-energy systems were defined in the National Research Programme “Energy”, in more than 100 projects and with 45 million francs of research funding, conducted by the Swiss National Science Foundation on behalf of the Federal Council. The outcome is 15 recommendations to policymakers and the energy industry.
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DMES combine electricity, gas and heat with storage and controllable loads to form a single system, locally or regionally.
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One of these recommendations is entitled “Implement decentralised multi-energy systems (DMES)!” and is addressed to policymakers and energy utilities. It is the only one of the 15 that names a technology explicitly. The recommendation in the original ↗
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eRevo is the first company in Europe to implement this system logic in building-integrated form.
Recommendation to policymakers and utilities
«Realise decentralised multi energy systems (DMES)!»
Recommended in 2020, made legally possible in 2026, built since 2024 by eRevo.
National energy research recommended it in 2020. Legislators delivered in 2026. We have the system to match, running at full load since April 2024.
DMES are not our invention. More than 100 projects and 45 million francs of research funding led to 15 recommendations to policymakers and the energy industry. It is the only one of them that calls for a system class to be implemented by name, and it uses exactly the term that eRevo is pioneering in Europe in building-integrated form.
The rationale states that DMES enable highly efficient use of decentrally generated energy and avoid costly grid expansion. Municipalities and their utilities are called upon to identify the potential and to drive implementation forward through energy master plans and active support. The federal government and the cantons are to provide the necessary legal framework.
From recommendation to law
- 2020 The summary states the obstacles openly. The supply monopolies of local energy utilities make DMES harder to implement, and grid fees in some cases represent insurmountable economic hurdles to sector coupling.
- 2026 This is exactly where legislators have caught up. Since 1 January 2026, the Local Electricity Communities (LEG) established by the Mantelerlass omnibus energy act have been in force. Locally produced electricity can be shared within the municipality at reduced grid usage tariffs.
- Today What was recommended in 2020 and became legally possible in 2026 has been built and proven in real-world operation. Grid-connected and grid-supportive, not as a self-sufficiency solution, because that is exactly what makes it pay off.
What this means for you
- For municipalities and their utilities They are the actors named in the summary, called upon to identify the potential, to enable DMES through energy master plans and land-use planning and to actively support projects. The scope exists; according to the paper it is simply used too little.
- For utilities DMES avoid costly grid expansion. Flexibility on site instead of copper in the ground. With the LEG, this has also been reflected in tariffs since 2026.
- For investors and lenders Not a niche technology, but a nationally recommended system category with a built reference in real-world operation.
- For neighbourhoods and sites The ETH case studies carried out under the programme show that a multi-energy hub with seasonal storage achieves the goals of the Energy Strategy 2050 in every scenario where sufficient space is available. For your site, the potential analysis provides the answer.
- Where our answer goes further The paper names hydrogen as a seasonal storage medium but leaves the economics open. Thermal extraction closes precisely this gap. Heat in both seasons turns the storage system into a revenue-generating asset.
The summary is a scientific recommendation, not a regulation. What has become binding is the framework that makes DMES economically viable today.
What was recommended can be built today. Assess your project →
The energy transition has a timing problem.
In summer, sun and wind produce more intermittent electricity than can be used. The surplus is curtailed or sold at negative prices. In winter, precisely this energy is missing. From 2027, feeding in electricity from large PV installations is likely to cost money rather than earn it, while the solar obligation is putting PV on every larger roof. Battery systems smooth out hours; the infrastructure for seasonal shifting is missing. And in urban areas, large-scale battery storage fails twice over, outdoors because of noise and objections, inside buildings because of fire load and permits.
A DMES closes the gap.
Surplus electricity is converted into hydrogen on site, bound in the metal hydride as a solid at just 35 bar and returned as electricity and heat when required. It is the only large-scale storage system permitted inside an inhabited building. Quiet, compact and without the fire load problems of batteries. The integrated short-duration storage serves the fast electricity markets, and thermal extraction supplies heat in both seasons. And because the energy is held in the molecule, the DMES is at the same time the most compact thermal store. Conventional water stores need many times the volume for the same amount of heat. Realised by the pioneer of decentralised multi energy systems in Europe, eRevo AG Energy Revolution.
Summer // surplus
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Photovoltaics
Own production on the roof
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Electrolysis
Electricity becomes hydrogen and heat
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H₂ in metal hydride
Solid state at 35 bar, inside the building
Winter // demand
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Fuel cell
Hydrogen becomes electricity and heat
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Electricity
Site, vZEV and LEG, grid
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Heat
Heating, hot water, heat network
over 75 % overall efficiency with combined electricity and heat use · over 30 years service life · 0.5 to 16 MWh per room · modularly scalable to over 100 MWh
The heart of the system
Metal hydride, simply explained.
Just as a sponge soaks up water, the metal hydride absorbs the hydrogen and binds it chemically within its metal lattice. And it does so effectively forever, until the energy is needed.
A metal hydride forms when a special metal alloy reacts with hydrogen. The hydrogen atoms slip into the spaces of the metal lattice and are chemically bound there. The gas becomes a solid. Around 97 per cent of the hydrogen is held safely in solid form within the metal, with only a small remainder staying gaseous. This is why the metal hydride needs neither high pressure nor cooling and is the only large-scale storage system permitted inside an inhabited building.
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Charging
Hydrogen gas is fed to the metal alloy at a pressure of up to 35 bar. The alloy reacts with the hydrogen and forms a metal hydride. The sponge soaks itself full.
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Storing
Storable indefinitely without losses, until the energy is needed. Around 97 per cent is chemically bound, solid and safe; the remaining roughly 3 per cent is present as gas.
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Discharging
The metal hydride is warmed to around 38 degrees, and the sponge releases the hydrogen again, safely and under control, for the fuel cell and thus for electricity and heat.
The system in figures.
Since April 2024
At full load. The world's first building-integrated DMES plant based on metal hydride is running in Eich LU.
35 bar
Low pressure. Chemically bound in the metal lattice. No self-discharge, no compression.
30+ years
Service life. Consistently designed as long-term infrastructure. The storage performance is guaranteed by the manufacturer for 20 years.
0.5 to 16 MWh
Per room. Modularly scalable to over 100 MWh as an energy centre.
20,000 cycles
Cycle stability of the metal hydride, with over 98 % performance thereafter.
> 75 %
Overall efficiency. With coupled use of electricity and heat.
Built safely. Structured to be bankable.
Standardised safety.
SVGW guideline H10001 is the safety framework for building-integrated H₂ systems and the reference for SIA-compliant planning, co-developed by eRevo. The basis for permits and fire protection. To the technical bulletin ↗
Physics instead of fire load.
The hydrogen is chemically bound in the metal lattice, around 97 % is held as a solid in the metal hydride and only a small remainder is in gaseous form. Solid state, 35 bar low pressure, no self-discharge, no compression. One kilogram of hydrogen takes up around 20 litres in the metal hydride tank instead of 310 litres in a 40 bar gas store. Even compared with a 300 bar pressure vessel, which requires compression and a complex permit procedure, the metal hydride remains around three times more compact.
Warranties and service agreements.
Performance guarantee of up to 20 years on the metal hydride storage technology. Long-term service agreements and performance commitments over the project term. Main components interchangeable across manufacturers instead of a single point of failure.
When the grid fails, your building can keep running.
On request, a DMES can be designed to be black-start capable, wherever that is technically possible and economically sensible. Designed that way, the system keeps supplying the building it stands in during a grid outage, with electricity and with heat. Because the long-duration storage holds the energy, autonomy then lasts for days rather than hours. The world premiere in Eich is designed that way, at the request of the building owner. And where there is no grid at all, a DMES can also supply a building permanently as an island. That is the rare case, but technically possible.
Operating data, not claims.
The plant in Eich LU has been running at full load since April 2024 and supplies operating data, design values and a referenced safety concept. Site visits possible.
Circularity and origin.
The long-duration storage system requires no rare earths and no lithium. All materials are available in Europe, and 80 % of the production chain is located in Switzerland. If performance declines after decades, the storage medium is regenerated with a noble gas. On decommissioning, the pure metal returns fully into the material cycle.
We take out complexity and bring in economic viability.
System architect, not manufacturer.
eRevo designs, integrates and orchestrates, using industrially established, series-produced components from leading manufacturers.
Energy Intelligence as a layer of its own.
EMS, AI optimisation and self-learning operations management control electricity, heat and hydrogen across hours, days and seasons. Every plant learns, and every new one starts out smarter. To Energy Intelligence →
A coordinated partner ecosystem.
GRZ Technologies (metal hydride), Enapter (electrolysis), EH Group (fuel cell), pi-System (EMS), Qynn Energy (flexibility and tariffs), Hälg Group (HVAC), enerpeak (energy engineering), SyEnergy / Maréchaux (electrical), GETEC (contracting), RISAM (fire protection), saprom (compliance), Integral / tend, Halter Gruppe (general contracting).
Energy potential at your site.
The 360° ecosystem is more than just electricity storage. These are precisely the levers the potential analysis examines for your site.
Let us discuss it.
We analyse the potential of your site, from simulation and profitability calculation through to implementation. Whether an industrial site, an energy utility, a district heating network, a neighbourhood in a vZEV / LEG, a housing cooperative or a property portfolio, the potential analysis is the first step.
Let us talk about your project.