Repurposing of supercritical coal plants into highly flexible grid storage with adapted 620 °C nitrate salt technology

Freerk Klasing, Marco Prenzel and Thomas Bauer

Applied Energy, 2025, vol. 377, issue PB, No S030626192401907X

Abstract: Energy storage is essential for on-demand electricity generation from renewable sources like wind and photovoltaics. Repurposing fossil-fired power plants with thermal energy storage (TES) offers a cost-effective solution for large-scale grid energy storage. This paper explores converting supercritical coal plants into flexible grid storage systems using adapted nitrate salt technology. State of the art TES systems are limited by their maximum operating temperatures at up to 560 °C, but higher temperatures cause nitrate salts to decompose. Supercritical steam power plants require steam temperatures above 600 °C for optimal efficiency. To address this, a closed gas handling system can keep gaseous decomposition products within the nitrate storage system, stabilizing the salt at temperatures up to 620 °C.

Keywords: Long duration energy storage (LDES); Molten salt (MS); Grid-scale energy storage; Closed gas system; Techno-economic analysis; Concentrating solar power (CSP); Carnot battery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124524

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