In recent years, our society has experienced an important energy transition that is becoming a central aspect in geopolitical choices in several countries around the world. However, several issues arise from these scenarios, in which an increasing number of RES power plants are installed and connected to electrical grids. In fact, most renewable sources, such as wind and solar, are characterised by a fluctuating and unpredictable behaviour that causes a decrease in the quality of the energy transmitted through the grid and leads to a more difficult management of the grid itself. To mitigate and reduce these negative aspects, it is important to install devices, such as storage systems, capable of facilitating the correct management of electrical grids, meeting, at the same time, the electrical demand of the users and the energy produced in RES-based power plants. Although several technologies have been proposed over the years, Carnot batteries seem to guarantee adequate performances without stringent geographical constraints and represent a promising solution. Among them, integrated thermal energy storage systems (IT-ESS) can be easily installed and coupled with existing power plants. The central element of such technology is represented by a sensible heat-thermal energy storage device, consisting of a packed bed. The literature is still lacking accurate design methods for the storage tank, and this is the leading aspect that led the authors to develop an innovative procedure to determine the size of the storage device, based on the necessity of producing energy during the night, while the accumulation phase occurs during the day. In this phase, the power of a photovoltaic plant is exploited: the plant is described through curves that reproduce the power generated in a typical day for each month of the year. An algorithm built in the MATLAB environment had been used to determine the volume of the storage device, with the goal of being able to cover the hours in which the PV is not producing energy. The results of the analysis have underlined the need to consider in a proper way both the user needs and the characteristics of the renewable power plants, to correctly evaluate the volume of the storage tank to be installed in the system.
INTEGRATED THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM - ROLE OF MANAGEMENT STRATEGY IN DESIGN OF A STORAGE TANK
Peccolo S.;Pecchini M.;Stoppato A.
;Benato A.
2024
Abstract
In recent years, our society has experienced an important energy transition that is becoming a central aspect in geopolitical choices in several countries around the world. However, several issues arise from these scenarios, in which an increasing number of RES power plants are installed and connected to electrical grids. In fact, most renewable sources, such as wind and solar, are characterised by a fluctuating and unpredictable behaviour that causes a decrease in the quality of the energy transmitted through the grid and leads to a more difficult management of the grid itself. To mitigate and reduce these negative aspects, it is important to install devices, such as storage systems, capable of facilitating the correct management of electrical grids, meeting, at the same time, the electrical demand of the users and the energy produced in RES-based power plants. Although several technologies have been proposed over the years, Carnot batteries seem to guarantee adequate performances without stringent geographical constraints and represent a promising solution. Among them, integrated thermal energy storage systems (IT-ESS) can be easily installed and coupled with existing power plants. The central element of such technology is represented by a sensible heat-thermal energy storage device, consisting of a packed bed. The literature is still lacking accurate design methods for the storage tank, and this is the leading aspect that led the authors to develop an innovative procedure to determine the size of the storage device, based on the necessity of producing energy during the night, while the accumulation phase occurs during the day. In this phase, the power of a photovoltaic plant is exploited: the plant is described through curves that reproduce the power generated in a typical day for each month of the year. An algorithm built in the MATLAB environment had been used to determine the volume of the storage device, with the goal of being able to cover the hours in which the PV is not producing energy. The results of the analysis have underlined the need to consider in a proper way both the user needs and the characteristics of the renewable power plants, to correctly evaluate the volume of the storage tank to be installed in the system.
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