Augmentation of thermal power stations with solar energy

Concentrating solar thermal power.

In addition to wind and photovoltaic power, concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) will make a major contribution to electricity provision from renewable energies. Drawing on almost 30 years of operational experience in the multi-megawatt range, CSP is now a proven technology with a reliable cost and performance record. In conjunction with thermal energy storage, electricity can be provided ac...

Solar thermal power plants

Thermal energy storage for CSP (Concentrating Solar Power)

— The major advantage of concentrating solar power before photovoltaic is the possibility to store thermal energy at large scale allowing dispatchability. Then, only CSP solar power plants including thermal storage can be operated 24 h/day using exclusively the solar resource. Nevertheless, due to a too low availability in mined nitrate salts, the actual mature technology of the two tanks molte...

Amortized Cost of Electricity from Solar Power Stations with Thermal Storage vs. Pulverized Coal Facility with Amine-Scrubbing

The goal of this paper is to compare the amortized cost of electricity from two different types of solar thermal energy technologies with the cost of electricity from a coal-fired power plant utilizing newly developed carbon capture (amine-scrubbing) technology. Coal, natural gas, and nuclear fuels are the dominant sources of electrical energy in the United States. Currently, the primary source...

Design of new molten salt thermal energy storage material for solar thermal power plant

In order to obtain molten salt with lower melting point, higher thermal stability and reduced cost relative to previously available materials, a variety of molten salt mixtures of alkali nitrates are investigated by experimental methods. However, since measurements are generally expensive and time-consuming, it is of interest to be able to predict melting point and the component of multi-compon...