State of the art on high-temperature thermal energy storage for power generation. Part 2-Case studies

Power generation systems are attracting a lot of interest from researchers and companies. Storage is becoming a component with high importance to ensure system reliability and economic profitability. A few experiences of storage components have taken place until the moment in solar power plants, most of them as research initiatives. In this paper, real experiences with active storage systems and passive Storage systems are compiled, giving detailed information of advantages and disadvantages of each one. Also, a summary of different technologies and materials used in solar power plants with thermal storage systems existing in the world is presented. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.