Research on operational flexibility of 600 MW subcritical coal-fired power unit by coupling three-tank molten salt thermal energy storage system

Shengnan Lv, Yuanwei Lu and Haijiao Wei

Energy, 2025, vol. 322, issue C

Abstract: Since the renewable energy generation output is unstable, some measures are needed to maintain the stability of the power grid with the increasing proportion of them. Integrating thermal energy storage (TES) system into coal-fired power unit (CFPU) to increase its flexibility is a simple and promising solution. This work proposed a novel two-stage three-tank molten salt TES system. A 600 MW subcritical CFPU was utilized to analyze the effect of main steam extraction on the thermal performance and peak shaving capacity under different cases. 40 % turbine heat acceptance (THA) was selected as peaking shaving condition of charging process. Results show that with the increase of THA in the discharging process, thermal efficiency, exergy efficiency, and output electric load of the flexible CFPU increased, while comprehensive coal consumption rate and peak shaving time decreased. Additionally, due to the increment of output electric load being greater than the decrease in peak shaving time, the highest generation increment is obtained when discharging at 100 %THA (137.43 MWh). Lastly, the efficiency of TES is 38.1–48.04 %, which increases with the electrical load output of the discharging increases. Overall, this work provides an effective and feasible integration method between TES and CFPU.

Keywords: Coal-fired power unit; Extracted steam; Molten salt; Thermal energy storage; Peak shaving capacity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:322:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225012228

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.135580

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