Pumped thermal energy storage systems integrated with a concentrating solar power section: Conceptual design and performance evaluation

Mario Petrollese, Mario Cascetta, Vittorio Tola, Daniele Cocco and Giorgio Cau

Energy, 2022, vol. 247, issue C

Abstract: A novel Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) system thermally integrated with a Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant is proposed and investigated. The two sections operate with the same working fluid, share several components and can operate simultaneously or independently of each other. A Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system composed of three thermocline packed-bed tanks is included. Specific mathematical models were developed to simulate the performance of the integrated PTES-CSP plant under nominal conditions and to evaluate the thermal profiles of the TES tanks. As a case study, an integrated PTES-CSP system characterized by a nominal power of 5 MW with a nominal storage capacity of 4 equivalent hours was considered. The influence of the main design parameters, namely the pressure ratio and the operating temperatures of the TES system, on the main performance indices was investigated. The results demonstrated that the exergetic roundtrip efficiency of the integrated plant reaches a maximum for a pressure ratio of about 5.2. A sensitivity analysis on the solar receiver temperature and turbomachinery polytropic efficiency and maximum allowable temperatures was also conducted. Finally, a feasible design for the PTES-CSP system characterized by an exergetic roundtrip efficiency of about 60% was proposed.

Keywords: Energy storage; Concentrating solar power; Pumped thermal energy storage; Packed bed thermal energy storage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544222004194
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:247:y:2022:i:c:s0360544222004194

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2022.123516

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().