The large-scale development of the photovoltaic power generation industry is continuously improving the prospects for the commercialization of heat-storage-type solar thermal power generation technologies. At the same time, the multinational regulatory authorities' interest in heat-storage-type solar thermal power generation technology has greatly encouraged the participation enthusiasm of all parties.
Recently, Scott Frier, COO (COO) of ACWA International Power Co., Ltd., Saudi Arabia, said: “At present, public power purchasers and regulatory agencies are increasing their support for thermal storage CSP projects.â€
Frier is the former chief operating officer of Abengo USA. He was involved in the development of a Solana thermal power plant with a capacity of 280 MW. According to him, the main reason why Arizona Public Service Co., Ltd. (APS) agreed to purchase all the power generated by the Solana power plant was its uninterrupted power supply. The Solana power station has a heat storage capacity of 1,680 MWh/day, which is also the largest energy storage power station in the United States except for pumped storage systems.
The problems caused by the rapid increase in the installed capacity of photovoltaics
In recent years, the installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation has been increasing. However, photovoltaic power stations can only generate electricity and electricity during the day. Therefore, other types of power stations are required to provide humans with the power needed at night, especially during peak hours when people use electricity at night and in the morning.
According to Brad Albert, resource procurement manager of APS Co., which was involved in the negotiation of the purchase price of Solana Power Plant, “We have already felt the strong market penetration of photovoltaics. Therefore, what we cannot determine is the installation potential of the user’s rooftop photovoltaic power generation facilities. How big is it."
The large-scale deployment of photovoltaic power generation in the APS company's daytime power grid structure is reshaping the company's electrical load structure and is also affecting the local overall power market. Albert said: "Now my company's electricity prices at night are higher than during the day."
As more and more photovoltaic power generation projects are connected to the grid, the power supply during the day is quite sufficient. What has happened along the way is that the value of the heat storage type solar thermal power generation system is increasingly prominent because it can adjust the power generation time of the power station to the peak of electricity consumption in the evening.
In fact, when people come home from work at night, many public power companies are faced with the problem of how to meet people's peak demand at night. With the increasing supply of photovoltaic power plants to the grid during the day, daytime and nighttime power supply and demand are increasingly unbalanced.
In the APS company's service area, the installation of rooftop photovoltaic power generation equipment has increased from 900 in 2010 to 18,000 in 2013. The current 7.4% of electricity supply in California during the day comes from photovoltaic projects, including rooftop photovoltaic installations and large-scale ground photovoltaic power stations.
Albert said that due to the very cold winter nights in the desert environment, APS also belongs to the peak hour of electricity before sunrise. Therefore, the ability to provide overnight power supply is very important. And many old houses belonging to APS's service area need to rely on electric energy for heating.
Albert added: "For us, the most critical time period is after sunset and before sunrise in winter. Compared to California and other regions that use natural gas for heating, we have higher electricity loads in our region."
Thermal storage thermal power projects are favored by emerging markets
When the CSP industry first developed in Spain and the United States, the regulatory authorities did not require heat storage.
At present, with the high penetration of the photovoltaic power generation industry, thermal storage thermal power generation projects are more likely to be favored by public power companies, such as APS. In addition, in some countries with superior development conditions in the CSP industry, it is often the case that the CSP power plants must be equipped with a heat storage system for a certain period of time.
In order to encourage the construction of heat-storage-type CSP projects, regulators and power takers in South Africa, Morocco, Chile, and Saudi Arabia generally set a higher electricity price for peak electricity usage, or simply request light. The thermal power project must be equipped with a thermal storage system at least for a long time to ensure that the local electricity demand at nighttime peaks can be met.
The Morocco Solar Energy Authority (MASEN) has provided 15% higher price for the evening electricity than the standard electricity price. The evening electricity price set up by the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Production Purchase Program (REIPPPP) is even higher, and in some cases it can reach 2.7 times the daytime electricity price.
In fact, every thermal power station developed in South Africa in recent years is carrying heat storage, and as the technology continues to mature, the heat storage capacity has also increased significantly. For example, Khi Solar, which was approved in 2011 and uses steam storage technology, has a heat storage time of 2 hours, while the recently approved Redstone power plant using molten salt heat storage technology has a heat storage time of up to 12 hours.
The strong support policies for heat storage technology in South Africa have greatly stimulated the development of the country's CSP industry. It is expected that by the year 2030, the installed capacity of 1.2 GW CSP projects will be achieved.
Figure: Comparison of electricity demand between peak hours in South Africa in summer and evening in South Africa
However, only in the first four years of the implementation of the REIPPPP plan, South Africa has already conducted a tender for the 600MW CSP project, which has completed half of the planned target. Once all of the aforementioned 1.2 GW of CSP projects are put into operation, South Africa can store 2,500 MWh of electricity each day, before sunrise or during evenings when necessary.
NamPower, the South African neighboring country's Namibia, said in early 2015 that the country's bidding for a CSP project must deploy 6-8 hours of thermal storage systems to address issues that the country’s prominent peak power cannot meet.
We have turned our sights to the Middle East. Saudi Arabia requires that the first round of CSP projects require a minimum heat storage time of 4 hours during tendering, and a longer time for heat storage in subsequent rounds of bidding. Although no specific tender details were provided, Saudi Arabia has clearly indicated that the importance of CSP is higher than that of photovoltaics, and it has set a target of 25GW of CSP installed capacity and 16GW of installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation projects by 2040.
When it comes to the scale of the heat storage system under construction, Chile can be said to be the world leader. At present, the country has planned and is building a capacity of 3575 MWh/day of thermal storage system. Atacama 1 and Atacama 2 were developed by Abengo. . If nothing else, the Copiapo project planned and developed by Chile SolarReserve in Chile in April next year will be finally approved, and then the total capacity of the Chilean thermal storage system will increase by 3,640 MWh/day.
In addition, Chile requires that the country's CSP station be equipped with at least 3 hours of heat storage system (using 85% of the system's operating load as the standard), while strictly limiting the use of conventional supplementary fuel, and forcing the project developer to configure the capacity of the heat storage system. To meet overnight operation and can achieve non-startup.
Photo-thermal power generation should be the first choice for the development of renewable energy
Although California and Arizona don't mandate that CSP projects must be equipped with heat storage systems, local regulators and grid operators say they prefer heat storage projects.
Recently, California Governor Jerry Brown announced that by 2030, California will achieve 50% of its renewable energy supply target. The State House is currently working on a bill to achieve this goal.
SolarReserve CEO Kevin Smith said: "If the U.S. government expressly stipulates that renewable energy projects must be equipped with energy storage systems, I believe that our competitive advantages will be immediately apparent." Unfortunately, the 1.3 The contracts signed for GW energy storage targets are mainly photovoltaic battery projects and natural gas peaking power generation projects.
However, with the continuous maturation of CSP technology and its high environmental protection, grid friendliness and resource regeneration, it will undoubtedly become the first choice for achieving large-scale clean energy power generation goals.
Closet Cabinets,Closet Cabinets With Doors,Closet Cabinets With Drawers,Walk In Closet Cabinets
Ningbo Oulin Import&Export Co.,Ltd. , https://www.oulinfurniture.com