Dynamic modeling and simulation of a concentrating solar power plant integrated with a thermochemical energy storage system

Abstract

This paper presents the dynamic modeling & simulation of a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant integrated with a thermochemical energy storage (TCES) system. The TCES material used is calcium hydroxide and the power cycle studied is a Rankine cycle driven by the CSP. Firstly, dynamics models of components written in Modelica language have been selected, developed, parametrized, connected and regulated to create the CSP plant with different TCES integration concepts. Then simulations were then performed to determine and compare the energy efficiency, water consumption and energy production/consumption of three integrations concepts for two typical days (summer and winter) and for a basic continuous production mode. After that, a feasibility study has been performed to test a peak production scenario of the CSP plant. The results showed that a TCES integration could increase the overall efficiency of the CSP plant efficiency by more than 10%. The Turbine integration concept has the best global efficiency (31.39% for summer; 31.96% for winter). The global electricity consumption of a CSP plant with TCES represents about 12% of its total energy production for a summer day and 3% for a winter day. An increased nominal power by a factor of 10 could be reached for the peak production mode within one hour using the Turbine integration concept, but with a lower global efficiency (17.89%).

Salt Hydrates for Thermochemical Storage of Solar Energy: Modeling the Case Study of Calcium Oxalate Monohydrate Dehydration/Rehydration under Suspension Reactor Conditions

“…A way to partially overcome these issues is to refer to the concentrated solar power (CSP) technology. − It relies on the concentration of solar energy by the use of optical sun-tracking mirrors (heliostats); hence, reflecting and concentrating sunlight to a receiver plant. Here, solar thermal energy is collected by a thermal energy carrier (a fluid or a solid) that is used for the conversion of energy into, e.g., electricity.…”

Exergy Analysis of Concentrated Solar Power Plants with Thermochemical Energy Storage Based on Calcium Looping

“…In addition, a dynamic simulation is also provided in their paper. 31 Referring to the above research, the current CaL-based TCES systems use a carbonation reaction as the heat source for power generation. For this, the discharging process is required to be in continuous operation (i.e., 24 h a day).…”

“…Among them, the turbine integration shows the highest overall energy efficiency (39.2%). In addition, a dynamic simulation is also provided in their paper …”

Wall impact on efficiency of packed-bed thermocline thermal energy storage system

“…Integrating thermal energy storage (TES) system in the concentrated solar power (CSP) plant is a feasible and appropriate strategy to overcome the inherent fluctuation and intermittence of natural renewable energy sources and to improve the flexibility and dispatchability [1,2]. Without any fossil fuel backup, the CSP plant supported by TES is also capable of producing electricity continuously, showing the prospect to replace traditional thermal power plants in the future due to the highly cleanness and sustainability [3][4][5]. At present, TES candidates for CSP plant are commonly classified into three types according to the sensible, latent or thermochemical heat storage mechanism [6,7].…”