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Economic implications of thermal energy storage for concentrated solar thermal power

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  • Wagner, Sharon J.
  • Rubin, Edward S.

Abstract

Solar energy is an attractive renewable energy source because the sun's energy is plentiful and carbon-free. However, solar energy is intermittent and not suitable for base load electricity generation without an energy backup system. Concentrated solar power (CSP) is unique among other renewable energy options because it can approach base load generation with molten salt thermal energy storage (TES). This paper describes the development of an engineering economic model that directly compares the performance, cost, and profit of a 110-MW parabolic trough CSP plant operating with a TES system, natural gas-fired backup system, and no backup system. Model results are presented for 0–12 h backup capacities with and without current U.S. subsidies. TES increased the annual capacity factor from around 30% with no backup to up to 55% with 12 h of storage when the solar field area was selected to provide the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE). Using TES instead of a natural gas-fired heat transfer fluid heater (NG) increased total plant capital costs but decreased annual operation and maintenance costs. These three effects led to an increase in the LCOE for PT plants with TES and NG backup compared with no backup. LCOE increased with increasing backup capacity for plants with TES and NG backup. For small backup capacities (1–4 h), plants with TES had slightly lower LCOE values than plants with NG backup. For larger backup capacities (5–12 h), plants with TES had slightly higher LCOE values than plants with NG backup. At these costs, current U.S. federal tax incentives were not sufficient to make PT profitable in a market with variable electricity pricing. Current U.S. incentives combined with a fixed electricity price of $200/MWh made PT plants with larger backup capacities more profitable than PT plants with no backup or with smaller backup capacities. In the absence of incentives, a carbon price of $100–$160/tonne CO2eq would be required for these PT plants to compete with new coal-fired power plants in the U.S. If the long-term goal is to increase renewable base load electricity generation, additional incentives are needed to encourage new CSP plants to use thermal energy storage in the U.S.

Suggested Citation

  • Wagner, Sharon J. & Rubin, Edward S., 2014. "Economic implications of thermal energy storage for concentrated solar thermal power," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 81-95.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:61:y:2014:i:c:p:81-95
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2012.08.013
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    1. Klein, Sharon J.W. & Rubin, Edward S., 2013. "Life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, water and land use for concentrated solar power plants with different energy backup systems," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 935-950.
    2. González-Roubaud, Edouard & Pérez-Osorio, David & Prieto, Cristina, 2017. "Review of commercial thermal energy storage in concentrated solar power plants: Steam vs. molten salts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 133-148.
    3. Sara Pascual & Pilar Lisbona & Luis M. Romeo, 2022. "Thermal Energy Storage in Concentrating Solar Power Plants: A Review of European and North American R&D Projects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-32, November.
    4. González-Gómez, P.A. & Petrakopoulou, F. & Briongos, J.V. & Santana, D., 2017. "Cost-based design optimization of the heat exchangers in a parabolic trough power plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 314-325.
    5. González-Portillo, Luis F. & Muñoz-Antón, Javier & Martínez-Val, José M., 2017. "An analytical optimization of thermal energy storage for electricity cost reduction in solar thermal electric plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P1), pages 531-546.
    6. Hoz, Jordi de la & Martín, Helena & Montalà, Montserrat & Matas, José & Guzman, Ramon, 2018. "Assessing the 2014 retroactive regulatory framework applied to the concentrating solar power systems in Spain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1377-1399.
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    8. Bijarniya, Jay Prakash & Sudhakar, K. & Baredar, Prashant, 2016. "Concentrated solar power technology in India: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 593-603.
    9. Dongli Tan & Yao Wu & Zhiqing Zhang & Yue Jiao & Lingchao Zeng & Yujun Meng, 2023. "Assessing the Life Cycle Sustainability of Solar Energy Production Systems: A Toolkit Review in the Context of Ensuring Environmental Performance Improvements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-37, July.
    10. Abujas, Carlos R. & Jové, Aleix & Prieto, Cristina & Gallas, Manuel & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2016. "Performance comparison of a group of thermal conductivity enhancement methodology in phase change material for thermal storage application," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 434-443.
    11. Tazi, Nacef & Safaei, Fatemeh & Hnaien, Faicel, 2022. "Assessment of the levelized cost of energy using a stochastic model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PB).
    12. Liu, Ming & Steven Tay, N.H. & Bell, Stuart & Belusko, Martin & Jacob, Rhys & Will, Geoffrey & Saman, Wasim & Bruno, Frank, 2016. "Review on concentrating solar power plants and new developments in high temperature thermal energy storage technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1411-1432.
    13. Gutiérrez, R.E. & Guerra, K. & Haro, P., 2022. "Exploring the techno-economic feasibility of new bioeconomy concepts: Solar-assisted thermochemical biorefineries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    14. Gutiérrez-Alvarez, R. & Guerra, K. & Haro, P., 2023. "Market profitability of CSP-biomass hybrid power plants: Towards a firm supply of renewable energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    15. De Luca, Fabrizio & Ferraro, Vittorio & Marinelli, Valerio, 2015. "On the performance of CSP oil-cooled plants, with and without heat storage in tanks of molten salts," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 230-239.
    16. El-Sayed, Wael G. & Attia, Nour F. & Ismail, Ibrahim & El-Khayat, Mohamed & Nogami, Masanobu & Abdel-Mottaleb, M.S.A., 2021. "Innovative and cost-effective nanodiamond based molten salt nanocomposite as efficient heat transfer fluid and thermal energy storage media," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 596-602.
    17. Petrollese, Mario & Cau, Giorgio & Cocco, Daniele, 2020. "The Ottana solar facility: dispatchable power from small-scale CSP plants based on ORC systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P3), pages 2932-2943.
    18. Soomro, Mujeeb Iqbal & Kim, Woo-Seung, 2018. "Performance and economic evaluation of linear Fresnel reflector plant integrated direct contact membrane distillation system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(PA), pages 561-569.
    19. Cocco, Daniele & Serra, Fabio, 2015. "Performance comparison of two-tank direct and thermocline thermal energy storage systems for 1 MWe class concentrating solar power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 526-536.
    20. Adrián Caraballo & Santos Galán-Casado & Ángel Caballero & Sara Serena, 2021. "Molten Salts for Sensible Thermal Energy Storage: A Review and an Energy Performance Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-15, February.
    21. Chennaif, Mohammed & Zahboune, Hassan & Elhafyani, Mohammed & Zouggar, Smail, 2021. "Electric System Cascade Extended Analysis for optimal sizing of an autonomous hybrid CSP/PV/wind system with Battery Energy Storage System and thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    22. Zauner, Christoph & Hengstberger, Florian & Mörzinger, Benjamin & Hofmann, Rene & Walter, Heimo, 2017. "Experimental characterization and simulation of a hybrid sensible-latent heat storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 506-519.
    23. Dowling, Alexander W. & Zheng, Tian & Zavala, Victor M., 2017. "Economic assessment of concentrated solar power technologies: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1019-1032.
    24. Gutiérrez, R.E. & Haro, P. & Gómez-Barea, A., 2021. "Techno-economic and operational assessment of concentrated solar power plants with a dual supporting system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).

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