Commissioning of high temperature thermal energy storage for high power levels

Abstract

A high power and capacity PCM storage unit has been integrated into a heat- and power cogeneration plant in Saarland, Germany. This storage will act as an intermediate back-up to a heat recovery steam generator and gas turbine and is therefore situated in parallel to this unit, also between the feedwater pumps and the steam main. The steam required is superheated at 300°C and 26 bar, resulting in a maximum thermal power of 6 MW. The storage needs to provide a minimum capacity of 1.5 MWh. Operation of this storage unit will increase efficiency and decrease fossil fuel use by reducing the use of a conventional back-up boiler. The filling of the unit with ~32 t of storage material in conjunction with the commissioning of the storage unit is in process and initial data has been acquired. These data will be analyzed and presented. This is part of the project TESIN, funded by the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy.