Proposal and performance analysis on thermal energy storage systems with live and reheat steam as heat sources to co-enhance the operational flexibility and efficiency of coal-fired power plants

The high penetration of intermittent renewable power threatens the steady operation of the power grid, and the operational flexibility of schedulable power plants should be enhanced. Thermal energy storage (TES) emerges as a promising technique to enhance the operational flexibility of coal-fired power plants (CFPPs). In this study, molten salt thermal storage systems utilizing live and reheat steam as heat sources were proposed, and the steam ejectors were integrated to recover the residual pressure of exhausted steam from the TES system to co-enhance the operational flexibility and energy efficiency of coal-fired power plants. Two TES system schemes, i.e., the scheme D1 storing medium-temperature heat to heat feedwater afterwards, and the scheme D2 storing high-temperature heat to generate steam afterwards, were designed. Then, simulation models were developed, and performance indicators were defined. Results indicate that the operational flexibility of the coal-fired power plant can be enhanced by the integration of the TES system, and the adjustable minimum load ratio can be decreased from 30 % to 17.71 % and 17.83 % for the schemes D1 and D2, respectively. When the steam ejectors are integrated, the equivalent round-trip efficiency can be increased by 1.60 % and 2.43 % for schemes D1 and D2, respectively. The scheme D2 shows a higher equivalent round-trip efficiency of 46.69 %, surpassing the scheme D1.