Principle of solar salt thermal energy generation

What is molten salt storage in concentrating solar power plants?

At the end of 2019 the worldwide power generation capacity from molten salt storage in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants was 21 GWh el. This article gives an overview of molten salt storage in CSP and new potential fields for decarbonization such as industrial processes, conventional power plants and electrical energy storage.

What is a solar salt?

Today, the so-called “solar salt” (60% NaNO 3 and 40% KNO 3) is recognized as the most successful thermal storage medium in the solar thermal electric market.

What are the applications of molten salt thermal energy storage?

Applications of the molten salt thermal energy storage are of wide range in engineering field, involving in the industrial, residential heating application and to meet the electricity power supply. Table 11.1 enlists some of the most commonly utilized molten salts and their applications.

Can molten salts be used to generate concentrated solar power?

Since this book is devoted to molten salt technology, the present chapter focuses on concentrated solar power (CSP) generation using molten salts in sensible and latent heat storage systems ( Table 20.1, marked bold; Figure 20.1, marked by two ellipses). Table 20.1. Overview of Salts Utilized in TES Processes

How much power does a solar salt storage system have?

The maximum electrical power was 11 MW. The two-tank storage system with a total volume of about 1700 m 3 had an inventory of 1400 tons of molten “Solar Salt.” The thermal capacity of the storage system was 107 MW h and the operation temperature ranged from 290 to 565 °C. This allowed for a turbine operation time of 3 h [ 94 ]. Figure 20.10.

What temperature does a solar salt work?

Traditional solar salts work in the range of 240−565°C. It is well known that the range of operation temperature is not the only criterion to evaluate this TES and HTF medium . Additional properties must be obtained experimentally as shown in Table 20.3 for the design of the storage system.