At the end of 2019 the worldwide power generation capacity from molten salt storage in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants was 21 GWh el. This article gives an overview of molten salt storage in CSP and new potential fields for decarbonization such as industrial processes, conventional power plants and electrical energy storage.
This paper analyses molten salt power plants as energy reservoirs that enable us to achieve the specified goals regarding flexible energy control and storage. The topic is crucial because, at the present stage of power industry development, molten salt power plants are pioneering solutions promoted mainly in Spain and the US.
The heat from a heat-generating process is transferred to a heat transfer media and can be extracted later using a secondary power cycle. There are several types of facilities that use thermal energy storage with molten salts, such as concentrated solar power plants (CSP plants) or nuclear hybrid energy systems (NHES).
Molten salt systems involve many radiological and chemistry challenges. Many unique technologies have been designed for molten salt systems. The technology readiness level for power cycle coupling is lower for molten salt systems. The primary uses of molten salt in energy technologies are in power production and energy storage.
Given the extra flexibility provided by using molten salt energy storage and intelligent control, such plants can also be used as supplementing installations for other types of renewable generators, for instance, wind turbine farms.
Molten salt is used for both thermal energy storage and power production. Thermal energy storage technologies include CSP plants, which use an array of reflectors to heat salt, which is subsequently stored for later use in a power cycle. MSRs also use molten salt for power production, operating using molten salt as a circulating fuel.
