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Dynamic characteristics and economic analysis of a coal-fired power plant integrated with molten salt thermal energy storage for improving peaking capacity

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Qijun
  • Dong, Jianning
  • Chen, Heng
  • Feng, Fuyuan
  • Xu, Gang
  • Wang, Xiuyan
  • Liu, Tong

Abstract

Improving the peaking capacity of coal-fired units is imperative to ensure the stability of the power grid, thus facilitating the grid integration and popularization of large-scale renewable energy. To address this issue, this paper introduces a new concept that combines molten salt energy storage with coal-fired power plants. The proposed design consists of extracting a portion of steam from the turbine side and adjusting the extracted steam mass flow rate by adjusting the valve opening to improve the dynamic characteristics of a coal-fired power plant in terms of both increasing the peaking depth and peaking speed. A coal-fired boiler with integrated thermal energy storage was dynamically modeled using Dymola and its accuracy was verified. The results show that the highest equivalent round-trip efficiency is achieved by extracting from the main steam and discharging into the feedwater during charging process and from reheater1 and discharging into the feedwater during discharging process; The peaking potential during charging and discharging is 12.83 % Pe and 6.86 % Pe respectively, with maximum peaking rates of 9.27 % Pe/min and 5.11 % Pe/min respectively, and the optimal peaking method is also proposed according to the different peaking situations. The total cost of equipment and materials to retrofit the conventional coal-fired units was 19,948,193 USD and the levelized cost of delivery was 151.29 USD/MWh.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Qijun & Dong, Jianning & Chen, Heng & Feng, Fuyuan & Xu, Gang & Wang, Xiuyan & Liu, Tong, 2024. "Dynamic characteristics and economic analysis of a coal-fired power plant integrated with molten salt thermal energy storage for improving peaking capacity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:290:y:2024:i:c:s0360544223035260
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.130132
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