Jülich Solar Power Tower—Experimental Evaluation of the Storage Subsystem and Performance Calculation

Abstract

Storage technology based on solid media heated in direct contact—so-called regenerators—is well suited to promote the market introduction of solar central receiver plants with air receivers. However, starting from existing technologies, several design issues need to be addressed. A test campaign was performed at the Solar Power Tower Jülich, an experimental central receiver plant, to experimentally verify the functionality and to quantify the performance of the plant’s storage subsystem. To this end, a gas burner used during commissioning of the plant, was reactivated and used to run a series of operation sequences. Computer simulations have been set up and applied to retrace the storage behavior to confirm the validity of the underlying models and to gain further insight into the relevant phenomena. The test results confirm the full functionality of the storage subsystem, the ability to perform cycling at high discharge heat rates and relatively low heat losses, supporting the view that the technology represents a promising basis for up-scaled implementations. Measurement data and simulation results are in good agreement, confirming the maturity of existing design tools.

Dynamic simulation and experimental validation of an open air receiver and a thermal energy storage system for solar thermal power plant

“…Air has several technical and economic advantages over commonly used fluids such as water/steam, molten salts and thermal oils. Air is freely available in the atmosphere, creates no pollution, has no phase transition, does not degrade, has no upper temperature limit, and has no need for preheating [5,6]. In concentrated solar systems using air, the air receiver that converts the solar radiation energy into thermal energy in the air is the major component of the system [7,8].…”

Thermo-mechanics in packed beds: Modeling and design of high temperature heat storage

“…Typical applications are concentrating solar power (CSP) plants [1,2], adiabatic compressed air energy storage (ACAES) [3], fossil CHP power plants with improved operational flexibility [4] or industrial waste heat applications.…”

Exergy and Thermoeconomic Analyses of Central Receiver Concentrated Solar Plants Using Air as Heat Transfer Fluid

“…To charge the storage, the hot air passes through the vessel from top to bottom and heats up the storage material; while to discharge the storage, cold air from the steam generator is circulated in reverse flow from bottom to top through the storage vessel and back to the steam generator. According to literature [26], the installed TES reaches 2.4 MW th (air temp 680-640 • C) during charge and 2.2 MW th during discharge (air temp 680 • C) within 1.5 h.…”