Techno-economic analysis of a concrete storage concept for parabolic trough solar power plants

In an energy transition towards 100 % renewable electricity, concentrating solar power (CSP) with thermal energy storage (TES) should be deployed on a wide scale due to the dispatchability capacity of this technology. To achieve this, a decrease of its levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is essential. This paper evaluates the technoeconomic potential of a CSP plant with high temperature concrete as TES system compared to the standard commercial molten salts system. The general plant design includes creating a bank of metal tubes enclosed by concrete in a modular configuration, aiming to maximize the performance of the plant (e.g., reducing parasitics). Nevertheless, the results proved that the selected configuration underperforms during the discharge phase in nominal conditions. Despite existing expectations, this study shows the prevalence of the current molten salt TES system as a better solution over the high temperature optimized concrete configuration studied.