Study of Rock Suitability for High Temperature Thermal Energy Storage in Concentrated Solar Tower Power Plants

An air-rock packed bed storage system can be considered as a promising alternative to the two tanks of molten salt, as it improves the efficiency and the dispatchability of solar power plants at lower costs. The present research work aims to study the suitability of natural rocks as low cost materials for sensible heat storage in concentrated solar tower power plants. Within this study, a review of literature has been conducted in order to develop a methodology of rock selection. The characteristics required on rocks as material storage in a direct contact with air as heat transfer fluid has been specified. Thus, several rocks have been identified as potential candidate materials susceptible to be used in a packed bed storage system.