Key Challenges for High Temperature Thermal Energy Storage in Concrete—First Steps towards a Novel Storage Design

Luisa F. Cabeza, David Vérez, Gabriel Zsembinszki, Emiliano Borri and Cristina Prieto
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Luisa F. Cabeza: GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain
David Vérez: GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain
Gabriel Zsembinszki: GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain
Emiliano Borri: GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain
Cristina Prieto: Department of Energy Engineering, University of Seville, Camino de Los Descubrimientos s/n, 41092 Seville, Spain

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-12

Abstract: Thermal energy storage (TES) allows the existing mismatch between supply and demand in energy systems to be overcome. Considering temperatures above 150 °C, there are major potential benefits for applications, such as process heat and electricity production, where TES coupled with concentrating solar power (CSP) plants can increase the penetration of renewable energies. To this end, this paper performs a critical analysis of the literature on the current and most promising concrete energy storage technologies, identifying five challenges that must be overcome for the successful exploitation of this technology. With these five challenges in mind, this paper proposes an approach that uses a new modular design of concrete-based TES. A preliminary study of the feasibility of the proposed system was performed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques, showing promising results.

Keywords: concrete; modular system; thermal energy storage; high temperature; new concept (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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