What is thermal energy storage?

Thermal Energy Storage (TES) is a fundamental component in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants to increase the plant's dispatchability, capacity factor, while reducing the levelized cost of electricity. In central receivers CSP plants, nitrate molten salts have been used for several years for operation temperatures of up to 565 degrees C.

How to support deep thermal energy storage in CSP plants?

It is very interesting to support deeply thermal energy storage (TES) in the CSP plants. TES systems would be charged in the peak of solar energy during the day-time, and the stored heat would be released at night time or during parts of the day when the solar power is not enough to produce electricity.

What are the technical challenges of solar thermal?

The technical challenges of solar thermal for power generation were discussed by [39, 40]. The authors presented three main challenges and proposed solutions for low conversion efficiency, land limitation, and demand mismatch issues.

What is thermal energy storage (TES) for CSPs?

This article reviews the thermal energy storage (TES) for CSPs and focuses on detailing the latest advancement in materials for TES systems and advanced thermal fluids for high energy conversion efficiency. Problems of TES systems, such as high temperature corrosion with their proposed solutions, as well as successful implementations are reported.

Can solar thermal power plants guarantee supply security?

Introduction Solar thermal power plants can guarantee supply security by integration of thermal energy storages and/ or by using a solar fossil hybrid operation strategy. Only few technologies among the renewables offer this base- load ability. Therefore it is predicted that they will have a significant market share of the future energy sector.

Is solar thermal storage a viable solution?

Neglected aspects of the solar thermal storage solution are detailed, indicating that it is not likely to be able to make a significant contribution. Batteries, vehicle-to-grid, biomass and hydrogen based solutions also appear to have major drawbacks.