Survey of thermal energy storage for parabolic trough power plants

A literature review was carried out to critically evaluate the state of the art of thermal energy storage applied to parabolic trough power plants. This survey briefly describe 5 the work done before 1990 followed by a more detailed discussion of later efforts. The most advanced system is a 2-tank-storage system where the heat transfer fluid (HTF) also serves as storage medium. This concept was successfully demonstrated in a commercial trough plant (13.8 MWe SEGS I-plant; 120 MWh(t) storage capacity) and a demonstration tower plant (10 MWe Solar Two; 105 MWh(t) storage capacity). However the HTF used in state-of-the-art parabolic trough power plants (30-80 MWe) is expensive, dramatically increasing the cost of larger HTF storage systems. Other promising storage concepts are under development, such as concrete storage, phase change material storage, and chemical storage. These concepts promise a considerable cost reduction compared to the direct 2-tank system, but some additional R&D is required before those systems can be used in commercial solar power plants. An interesting and likely cost-effective near-term option for thermal energy storage for parabolic trough power plants is the use of an indirect 2-tank-storage, where another (less expensive) liquid medium such as molten salt is utilized rather than the HTF itself.