IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v320y2025ics0360544225010102.html

Dynamic performance and control strategy of steam generation system for ultra-rapid steam production in coal-fired power plant

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Guangming
  • Jiang, Kaijun
  • Wang, Qinghua
  • Zhang, Qiang
  • Chen, Jiyu
  • Xu, Jinliang
  • Niu, Yuguang

Abstract

The coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) coupled with molten salt thermal energy storage (TES) system is a promising way to enhance the power grid peak shaving ability, which is significant to help the power grid absorb more renewable energy. Unlike the molten salt solar power tower plant, the molten salt TES system needs to generate hot steam from the standby state to 100 % thermal heat acceptance (THA) within several minutes. In this paper, a dynamic model for a molten salt TES system applied in the CFPP is established in the i-Calcu simulation platform. Besides, the control strategy of the steam generation system (SGS) for ultra-rapid steam production is proposed and configured in a distributed control system, which is linked with the simulation platform by real-time communication software. The dynamic performance of the SGS under three different ramp rates (6 %, 12 %, and 18 % Pe/min) is obtained. The results show that the mean absolute error (MAE) indexes of molten salt steam flow, steam pressure, and evaporator water level are 0.787 t/h, 0.033 MPa, and 3.294 mm, respectively, under the 18 % Pe/min ramp rate. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the SGS with the proposed control strategies is robust for feedwater and molten salt inlet temperature disturbance. Finally, another simulation results show that with the SGS, the load response rate of the coal-fired unit increases from 2.11 % Pe/min to 2.76 % Pe/min, while the MAE indexes of the power load and main steam pressure decrease by 65.7 % and 34.7 %, respectively. This paper can provide a significant reference for the molten salt SGS involving the power grid peak shaving process.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Guangming & Jiang, Kaijun & Wang, Qinghua & Zhang, Qiang & Chen, Jiyu & Xu, Jinliang & Niu, Yuguang, 2025. "Dynamic performance and control strategy of steam generation system for ultra-rapid steam production in coal-fired power plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:320:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225010102
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.135368
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225010102
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.135368?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Siavash Asiaban & Nezmin Kayedpour & Arash E. Samani & Dimitar Bozalakov & Jeroen D. M. De Kooning & Guillaume Crevecoeur & Lieven Vandevelde, 2021. "Wind and Solar Intermittency and the Associated Integration Challenges: A Comprehensive Review Including the Status in the Belgian Power System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-41, May.
    2. Zhang, Qiang & Wang, Zhiming & Du, Xiaoze & Yu, Gang & Wu, Hongwei, 2019. "Dynamic simulation of steam generation system in solar tower power plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 866-876.
    3. Liu, Zefeng & Wang, Chaoyang & Fan, Mengyang & Wang, Zhu & Fang, Fang & Liu, Ming & Yan, Junjie, 2025. "Investigation on the allowable load ramping-up rate and wet-to-dry conversion time of a 660 MW supercritical coal-fired power plant with deep peak-shaving work conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    4. González-Gómez, P.A. & Laporte-Azcué, M. & Fernández-Torrijos, M. & Santana, D., 2022. "Design optimization and structural assessment of a header and coil steam generator for load-following solar tower plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 456-471.
    5. Zhang, Qiang & Jiang, Kaijun, 2024. "Heat transport and load response characteristics of a molten salt solar tower power station engaged in peak regulation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 371(C).
    6. Ouyang, Tiancheng & Qin, Peijia & Xie, Shutao & Tan, Xianlin & Pan, Mingming, 2023. "Flexible dispatch strategy of purchasing-selling electricity for coal-fired power plant based on compressed air energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    7. Shi, Xingping & He, Qing & Liu, Yixue & An, Xugang & Zhang, Qianxu & Du, Dongmei, 2024. "Thermodynamic and techno-economic analysis of a novel compressed air energy storage system coupled with coal-fired power unit," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    8. Liu, Zefeng & Wang, Chaoyang & Fan, Jianlin & Liu, Ming & Xing, Yong & Yan, Junjie, 2024. "Enhancing the flexibility and stability of coal-fired power plants by optimizing control schemes of throttling high-pressure extraction steam," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    9. Long, Dongteng & Wang, Wei & Yao, Chu & Liu, Jizhen, 2017. "An experiment-based model of condensate throttling and its utilization in load control of 1000 MW power units," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 941-954.
    10. Zhu, Chen & Zhang, Guangming & Zhu, Keyan & Xu, Jinliang & Niu, Yuguang & Liu, Jizhen, 2024. "A molten salt energy storage integrated with combined heat and power system: Scheme design and performance analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    11. Mukovhe Ratshitanga & Ayokunle Ayeleso & Senthil Krishnamurthy & Garrett Rose & Anges Akim Aminou Moussavou & Marco Adonis, 2024. "Battery Storage Use in the Value Chain of Power Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-40, February.
    12. Bazdar, Elaheh & Sameti, Mohammad & Nasiri, Fuzhan & Haghighat, Fariborz, 2022. "Compressed air energy storage in integrated energy systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    13. Tong, Zheming & Cheng, Zhewu & Tong, Shuiguang, 2021. "A review on the development of compressed air energy storage in China: Technical and economic challenges to commercialization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    14. Ma, Tingshan & Li, Zhengkuan & Lv, Kai & Chang, Dongfeng & Hu, Wenshuai & Zou, Ying, 2024. "Design and performance analysis of deep peak shaving scheme for thermal power units based on high-temperature molten salt heat storage system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lv, Xiaoyan & Li, Xingmei & Tan, Qinliang & Jia, Dongqing, 2025. "Does coordination with renewable energy through virtual power plants enhance the transition willingness of coal-fired power plants? An evidence from city in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    2. Mu, Zhiguo & Lv, You & Fang, Fang & Liu, Jizhen, 2026. "Hierarchical fuzzy RL control strategy and economic evaluation for molten salt energy storage systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 405(C).
    3. Cui, Zhipeng & Jiang, Kaijun & Chen, Weixiong & Wang, Jinshi & Niu, Yuguang, 2025. "Digital twin enhanced hybrid modelling for main steam temperature optimization of flexible power plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    4. Zhu, Chen & Zhang, Guangming & Zhu, Keyan & Wang, Qinghua & Xu, Jinliang & Niu, Yuguang & Liu, Jizhen, 2026. "Control-oriented modeling and dynamic energy balance control strategy of steam generation system in coal-fired power plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 404(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhu, Chen & Zhang, Guangming & Zhu, Keyan & Wang, Qinghua & Xu, Jinliang & Niu, Yuguang & Liu, Jizhen, 2026. "Control-oriented modeling and dynamic energy balance control strategy of steam generation system in coal-fired power plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 404(C).
    2. Zhang, Qiang & Tian, Ziqian & Jiang, Kaijun & Du, Xiaoze & Wang, Qinghua & Niu, Yuguang, 2025. "A molten salt bypass flow steam temperature control strategy for steam generation system: system design, simulation modelling and validation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    3. Wang, Peng & Wang, Chaoyang & Xiao, Qi & Huang, Chonghai & Liu, Ming & Chen, Weixiong & Yan, Junjie, 2025. "Enhancing the ramp-up flexibility of the coal-fired power plant under deep peak shaving work conditions by adopting a sliding steam temperature Scheme," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    4. Shi, Xingping & He, Qing & Liu, Yixue & An, Xugang & Zhang, Qianxu & Du, Dongmei, 2024. "Thermodynamic and techno-economic analysis of a novel compressed air energy storage system coupled with coal-fired power unit," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    5. Cui, Yuelong & Jiang, Kaijun & Wei, Huimin & Xu, Lei & Du, Xiaoze, 2025. "Solid packed bed storage-based flexible retrofit solution for power plants: Novel method for multi-heat source contribution analysis and thermal performance regulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    6. Wu, Chunlei & Wang, Chao & Hou, Zongyu & Wang, Zhe, 2025. "Flexible peak shaving in coal-fired power plants: A comprehensive review of current challenges, recent advances, and future perspectives," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    7. Zhang, Qiang & Jiang, Kaijun, 2024. "Heat transport and load response characteristics of a molten salt solar tower power station engaged in peak regulation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 371(C).
    8. Cui, Zhipeng & Jing, Hao & Wang, Dengliang & Chen, Weixiong & Niu, Yuguang, 2025. "Dynamic characterization and predictive control of the steam-molten salt heat exchanger in charging process," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    9. Fu, Jinming & Zhu, Shujun & Liu, Yuhua & Sun, Yunkai & Chai, Zhen & Gao, Ming & Lyu, Qinggang, 2025. "Case analysis of combustion-side flexibility retrofit schemes based on a framework for technical economy of coal-fired unit," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    10. Ran, Peng & Fan, Qinyang & Ou, YiFan & Zhang, Chunyu, 2025. "Energy, conventional exergy, advanced exergy and economic analysis of a steam injection compressed air energy storage integrated with concentrating solar power," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    11. He, Wentao & Chen, Xi & Xu, Jingxuan & Lu, Yilin & Sun, Jiabao, 2025. "Thermodynamic and economic analysis of an adiabatic compressed air energy storage system coupled with an air separation unit," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    12. Li, Hang & Ma, Hongling & Liu, Jiang & Zhu, Shijie & Zhao, Kai & Zheng, Zhuyan & Zeng, Zhen & Yang, Chunhe, 2023. "Large-scale CAES in bedded rock salt: A case study in Jiangsu Province, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    13. Lin, Mengke & Shen, Jianjian & Guo, Xihai & Ge, Linsong & Lü, Quan, 2025. "Comparison of pumping station and electrochemical energy storage enhancement mode for hydro-wind-photovoltaic hybrid systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 315(C).
    14. Zhang, Qiang & Tian, Ziqian & Jiang, Kaijun & Wang, Qinghua & Du, Xiaoze & Ren, Yunxiu & Zhang, Xiaoning & Yu, Gang, 2024. "Dynamic response characteristics of molten salt solar power tower plant under rapid load changes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    15. Chen, Guo & Kuang, Rao & Li, Wen & Cui, Kunpeng & Fu, Deran & Yang, Zecheng & Liu, Zhenfei & Huang, Heyi & Yu, Mingqi & Shen, Yijun, 2024. "Numerical study on efficiency and robustness of wave energy converter-power take-off system for compressed air energy storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    16. Pan, Chuhan & Lu, Fulu & Zhu, Hongguang & Liao, Yanan & Sun, Man, 2025. "Thermoeconomic analysis of a novel liquefied biomethane-air energy storage system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    17. Ma, Yao & Cao, Yue & Xie, Guozhou & Si, Fengqi, 2025. "Day-ahead scheduling of hybrid molten salt-phase change salt thermal energy storage system applied for peak-shaving of coal-fired power plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 338(C).
    18. Wei, Lijia & Liu, Xiang & Wang, Fengjun & Ye, Huan & Zheng, Qilin & Yu, Zezhong & Zhou, Hao, 2025. "Research on retrofitting strategy of coal-fired power plants combined with thermal energy storage system for peak shaving," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 337(C).
    19. Ni, Yuguo & Liu, Keliang & Yu, Miao & Zhou, Hao, 2025. "Research on the effects of extracting main steam and reheat steam on enhancing the flexibility of the coal-fired power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    20. Zhou, Xiaoming & Zhang, Zhu & Jiang, Yanni, 2025. "Design and thermodynamic analysis of 1050 MW coal-fired power unit coupled with molten salt thermal energy storage system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:320:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225010102. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.