The most common type of concentrating solar power csp plant in operation today is the parabolic trough plant. There is growing awareness that nuclear energy is needed to complement intermittent energy sources and to avoid pollution from fossil fuels. This paper reports recent developments of multicomponent molten salt formulations consisting of common alkali nitrate and alkaline earth nitrate. Molten salts are often used with concentrating solar power csp plants to store thermal energy for electricity generation 24. New molten salt thorium reactor powers up for first time. Msrs offer multiple advantages over conventional nuclear power plants, although for historical reasons further explanation needed, they have not been deployed the concept was first established in the 1950s. Pdf solar tower power plants of molten salt external receivers. Molten salt reactors msrs use molten fluoride salts as primary coolant, at low pressure. The present paper assesses the development of solarbased electricity generation in chile by csp, achieved by a solar power tower plant spt using molten. Terrestrial energy leading the way to a bright energy future. Molten salt power tower cost model for the system advisor model sam. Worlds first molten salt solar plant produces power at night.
Novel molten salts thermal energy storage for concentrating solar. The crescent dunes solar energy project is a 110 megawatt mw net solar thermal power project with 1. This paper analyses molten salt power plants as energy reservoirs that. But extending the concept to dissolving the fissile and fertile fuel in the salt certainly represents a leap in lateral thinking relative to. Pdf performance of molten salt solar power towers in chile.
The crescent dunes concentrating solar power plant in nevada uses molten salt technology to store heat and generate electricity and can provide power to 75,000 homes during peak operations. Longterm thermal stability of the storage concept remains a design concern. Molten salt storage in concentrated solar power plants could meet the. The advantage of molten salt as a medium is that it is liquid at atmospheric pressure, its operating temperatures are compatible with todays steam turbines, and it. Molten salts can be employed as a thermal energy storage method to retain thermal energy. Parabolic trough power plant w 2tank indirect molten salt thermal storage hx hot salt tank. Solar power with circulating fluidized bed power plants research project. Integration with power block for discharge is costly. Molten salt power tower cost model for the system advisor. The paper discusses the possibilities for the use of molten salts as storage in modern csp plants. It used real data gathered from appropriate meteorological files.
An evaluation of possible nextgeneration high temperature. Molten nitrate salt, pumped from a tank at ground level, absorbs the sunlight, heating it up to 565c. An existing simulation model at fraunhofer ise has been adapted to. A solar power tower uses a field of tracking mirrors heliostats that redirect sunlight on to a centrally located. High temperature molten salt loop schematic with potential surface and fluid temperatures. Thermodynamic modelling of molten salt thermal energy. And while molten salt storage is often added to troughstyle plants, which use hectares of parabolic mirrors to heat synthetic oil flowing through pipes suspended above them, salt towers are. Performance model for parabolic trough solar thermal power plants with thermal storage. A thoriumsalt reactor has fired up for the first time in. Thermalenergy storage tes by two tanks of molten salt. Molten salts as heat transfer fluids for solar thermal.
Molten salts fluoride, chloride, and nitrate can also be used as heat transfer fluids as well as for thermal storage. Index termsconcentrated solar power plant, concrete storage, life cycle assessment, molten salt storage, thermal energy storage. Molten salt reactors is a comprehensive reference on the status of molten salt reactor msr research and thorium fuel utilization. Take a peek inside nevadas new solar farm that generates power 247 with molten salt. Technology pathway molten salt us department of energy. Concentrating solar power csp technologies are seen as the solar programs most attractive option for. To do this the plant will focus nearly 20,000 heliostats upon a solar power tower filled with salt. At that point, the tanks might need corrosion repair, so the molten salt would be cooled off a process that takes months then emptied and then returned to the tanks to supply another 30 or more years. Besides increasing efficiency, it may also shift their area of application. Concentrated solar power plants with molten salt storage.
With these environmental issues surrounding fossil fuels, it. No new molten salt storage csp plants were commissioned in the united states in 2017 or 2018. Molten salt reactors and thorium energy thomas james. Molten salt vtp is the industrys leading vertical pump for molten salt circulation. The heated salt flows back to ground level into another tank where it is stored, then pumped through a steam generator to produce steam and make electricity. Since completion of the solar two molten salt power tower demonstration in 1999, the solar industry has been developing initial commercialscale projects that are 3 to 14 times larger. Model results for a 50 mwe power plant are presented and compared to real data from an equivalent. This itself is not a radical departure when the fuel is solid and fixed. Molten salt thermal energy storage can be heated and cooled daily for at least 30 years. One power tower pilot plant to molten nitrate salt technology. Successful operation of the converted plant, called solar two, will reduce economic risks in building. The salt is a combination of sodium and potassium nitrate, with a. A tower of molten salt will deliver solar power after sunset.
Development of moltensalt heat transfer fluid technology. The molten salt design being developed at nrg is known as the salt irradiation experiment salient. Power tower plant w 2tank direct molten salt thermal storage. After exiting the steam generator, the molten salt is sent to the cold salt thermal storage tank step 5 and the cycle is repeated. Nevada solar plant generates power 247 with molten salt. While updated models of uraniumfueled power plants are struggling mightily to get off the ground in the u. Solar thermal energy with molten salt storage for residential heating application. The worlds first molten salt concentrating solar power plant. Molten salts as heat transfer fluids for solar thermal power plants krysten minnici carbon dioxide, primarily created by burning fossil fuels, is an overwhelming component to the global warming problem. A relationship between the solar multiple sm, power generation, and thermal. Concentrated solar power plants with molten salt storage hindawi. New research has shown that molten salt can be used in parabolic trough.
In recent years molten salt power tower plants have demonstrated the benefit of using molten salt as heat transfer fluid and a storage medium. Systemlevel simulation of a solar power tower plant with. The cost of electricity is estimated for a molten salt reactor based on evaluations at the oak ridge national laboratory ornl and compared to the ornl pressurized water reactor and coal plant. Department of metallurgical and materials engineering, the university of alabama, tuscaloosa, al 354870202, usa. Terrestrial energy plans molten salt project for idaho. Advancements have been made at the subsystem and component levels, but there are three material pathways for the heat transport systemusing gas, the crescent dunes concentrating solar power plant in nevada uses molten salt. This thermal storage is commonly used in molten salt power plants.
Companies such as germanbased frenell, formerly novatec, offer a turnkey solution combining a solar field and a proprietary direct molten salt technology. Solarreserve has partnered with stateowned shenhua group, a builder of coalfired power plants, to develop 1,000 mw of csp molten salt generation. Molten salt thermal energy storage materials for solar power generation ramana g. Molten salt thermal energy storage materials for solar. Molten salt makes it possible, and prices are falling fast. The cost model provides a reference plant that interfaces with nrels system advisor model or.
Molten salt storage 33 times cheaper than lithiumion. As a leading provider of molten salt pumps for more than 60 years, flowserve understands the. The cost model provides a reference plant that interfaces with nrels system advisor model or sam. Final report on technical data, costs, and life cycle inventories of. Recently several new heat transfer fluids htf have been proposed and analyzed with the aim of reducing the levelized costs of electricity lcoe of parabolic trough power plants. Sandia national laboratories, an evaluation of molten salt power towers including results of. Cost of electricity from molten salt reactors request pdf. Technology next generation molten salt reactor msr proprietary msr design the integral molten salt reactor imsr high technology readiness conducting basicpreliminary engineering work concludes with construction and licensing of the first commercial imsr power plant. Sicily has just announced the opening of the worlds first concentrated solar power csp facility that uses molten salt as a heat collection medium. Comparative lca of two thermal energy storage systems for. Container cost steel tanks for salt, fused cast zirconia for glass 3. Concentrating solar power in south africa a comparison. The 10 additional plants that solarreserve hopes to someday build in the nevada desert would be similar to crescent dunes but largereach with 10 hours of storage. In csp plants, excess heat that is not used for electricity generation is diverted to the molten salt, which is then stored in an insulated tank.
Zavoico nexant san francisco, ca 94104 abstract this report contains the design basis for a generic molten salt solar power tower. The steam is then used to power a conventional steam turbine, generating electricity step 4. Capital cost reduction tips for high temperature thermal. Molten salt is currently the most common method to store heat in large csp plants and provide a constant ondemand supply of solar power without the need for fossil fuel backup systems. The conversion involves installation of a new receiver, a new thermal storage system, and a new steam generator. The cost model was developed by the national renewable energy laboratory. Executive summary this final report for the development of molten salt heat transfer fluid htf technology for parabolic trough solar power plants describes the overall project accomplishments, results and conclusions. Solar power tower design basis document revision 0 prepared by alexis b. A molten salt reactor msr is a class of nuclear fission reactor in which the primary nuclear reactor coolant andor the fuel is a molten salt mixture. This month, the italian utility enel unveiled archimede, the first concentrating solar power csp plant in the world to use molten salts for heat transfer and storage, and the first to be fully.
Nitrate salts decompose above 600620c chlorides and carbonates are good candidates. The plant can feed power to the grid any time of day or night. Msrs offer multiple advantages over conventional nuclear power plants, although for historical reasons further explanation needed, they have not been deployed. Details of the life cycle assessment have been published elsewhere 1. Nevadas new molten salt solar plant will produce power. Molten salt thermocline tank concentrating solar power power tower abstract a thermocline tank is a lowcost thermal energy storage subsystem for concentrating solar power plants that typically utilizes molten salt and quartzite rock as storage media. Concentrated solar power plants belong to the category of clean sources of renewable energy. Yes we can convert a lignite baseload plant to a renewable baseload plant by replacing its coal fired boiler with a molten salt fired steam generator and adding storage tanks for the coldhot molten salts and molten salt resistance heaters the capital cost of doing that will be. Crescent dunes was the first concentrated solar power csp plant with a central receiver tower and advanced molten salt energy storage technology from solarreserve. Pdf solar thermal energy with moltensalt storage for. Such setups allow existing power plant infrastructure like turbines to be kept in use, which reduces the investment costs of the entire system.
Such setups allow existing power plant infrastructure like turbines to be kept in use, which reduces the. Presently, this is a commercially used technology to store the heat collected by concentrated solar power e. Phase 1 analyzed the feasibility, cost and performance of a parabolic trough solar power plant with a molten salt heat transfer fluid htf. Like solar two, these initial plants will power subcritical steamrankine cycles using molten salt with a temperature of 565 c. Introduction since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the.
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