How much does a solar thermal storage cost in doha

How much does thermal energy storage cost?

In our base case, the cost of thermal energy storage requires a storage spread of 13.5 c/kWh for a 10MW-scale molten salt system to achieve a 10% IRR, off of $350/kWh of capex costs. Costs are sensitive to capex, utilization rates, opex, electricity prices and round trip losses. The sensitivities can be stress tested in the data-file.

What is a thermal energy storage data-file?

This data-file captures the costs of thermal energy storage, buying renewable electricity, heating up a storage media, then releasing the heat for industrial, commercial or residential use. Our base case requires 13.5 c/kWh-th for a 10% IRR, however 5-10 c/kWh-th heat could be achieved with lower capex costs.

How do thermal energy storage solutions work?

Thermal energy storage solutions aim to help integrate solar and wind into power grids, by absorbing excess generation that would otherwise be curtailed, and then re-releasing the heat later when renewables are not generating. Different storage media are compared in one of the back-up tabs of the model.

How efficient are thermal energy systems?

The round-trip efficiency of thermal energy systems can also be higher than we might have naively expected, possibly in the range of 85-95%. The physics is modeled from first principles in other back-up tabs of the data-file.

Are molten salt systems suitable for thermal energy storage?

Different storage media are compared in one of the back-up tabs of the model. However, one-third of the companies in our thermal energy storage company screen are pursuing molten salt systems, hence our thermal energy storage model focuses on this option.

How much does molten salt storage cost?

The figures for the battery projects also include the capital costs of the building with air conditioning and fire protection measures. The table shows molten salt storage to be 33 times less expensive than an electric battery, when comparing the 833 EUR/kWh el to the 25 EUR/kWh th.