Expanding the Use of Molten Salt for Renewable Energy Storage and the Role of Green Technology Policies

Lavinia Heisenberg and Richhild Moessner

No 11223, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: The transition to net zero carbon emissions necessary to limit global warming importantly involves greater use of renewable energies, especially solar energy, and scaling up renewable energy storage and generation. This paper discusses expanding the use of molten salt for renewable energy storage and generation, in an environmentally friendly way and making use of existing infrastructure. This includes using molten salt to store solar energy in concentrated solar plants, replacing coal by molten salt to power thermal plants and thereby convert existing coal thermal plants to renewables, and linking these two uses. Additionally, the use of molten salt in thermal batteries for grid-scale energy storage and in green hydrogen production is explored. The paper also delves into the significance of green technology policies in facilitating the use of molten salt for these applications.

Keywords: molten salt; energy storage; renewable energy; solar energy; concentrated solar power plants; grid storage; conversion of thermal coal plants; green technology support policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q00 Q40 Q48 Q50 Q55 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-env
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11223

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