Abstract
This paper provides an overview of a novel electric energy storage technology. The Thermally Integrated Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage (TI-PTES) stores electric energy as thermal exergy. Compared to standard PTES, TI-PTES takes advantage of both electric and low-temperature heat inputs. Therefore, TI-PTES is a hybrid technology between storage and electric production from low-temperature heat. TI-PTES belongs to a technology group informally referred to as Carnot Batteries (CBs). As the TI-PTES grows in popularity, several configurations have been proposed, with different claimed performances, but no standard has emerged to date. The study provides an overview of the component and operating fluid selection, and it describes the configurations proposed in the literature. Some issues regarding the performance, the ratio between thermal and electrical inputs, and the actual TI-PTES utilisation in realistic scenarios are discussed. As a result, some guidelines are defined. The configurations that utilise high-temperature thermal reservoirs are more extensively studied, due to their superior thermodynamic performance. However, low-temperature TI-PTES may achieve similar performance and have easier access to latent heat storage in the form of water ice. Finally, to achieve satisfactory performance, TI-PTES must absorb a thermal input several times larger than the electric one. This limits TI-PTES to small-scale applications.
Highlights
Power sector decarbonisation is one of this century’s challenges that our society must face to preserve itself
The analysis initially stated the reasons why such an electric energy storage technology is interesting and what is its potential in terms of the integration of heterogeneous energy systems
The Thermally Integrated Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (TI-Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage (PTES)) technology overview was conducted by describing each component technology, in terms of the target system size, the thermodynamic and technical considerations that guide the operating fluid selection and the leading system configurations that can be found in the literature
Summary
Power sector decarbonisation is one of this century’s challenges that our society must face to preserve itself. To completely decarbonise the energy systems, a deep integration (power-to-x) of different energy sectors, such as electric grid, household heating and district heating, fuel production and mobility, should occur [5] Each of these subsystems could, require internal storage capacities. If other flexibility sources are introduced in the systems, like deferrable loads (such as electric vehicles), or by coupling different energy sectors, e.g., electric and natural gas grid, or electric grid and district heating/cooling networks, a large RES share may be integrated with a lower installed capacity [18]. The studied CBs are suited for distributed storage and generation applications, which is right, as the integration between electric and thermal systems may require the operation planning and optimisation typical of a microgrid From this standpoint, the TI-PTES and similar technologies may enable a synergistic management of electrical and thermal loads, which might improve the microgrid operation. The paper is a useful collection of data and references, but its primary contribution is to provide the interested reader with a comprehensive and updated analysis on TI-PTES and similar CB technologies
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