Abstract
The rise in distributed renewable energy generation creates a growing need to find viable solutions for energy storage to match energy demand and supply at any time. This paper evaluates the possibility of using swimming pools as a long-term cooling energy storage solution, i.e., Swimming Pool Thermal Energy Storage (SPTES). This technology allows a small building to store solar energy for cooling purposes in a yearly cycle, by filling the pool with ice slurry in winter and using that ice to cool the house in the summertime. Additionally, the pool can be used as a heat sink for a heat pump to heat the house during the winter. Results show that the energy storage cost of 0.078 US$ kWhe−1 is substantially smaller when compared with batteries (125 US$ kWhe−1). This makes SPTES a good alternative to support the development of 100% renewable energy systems in locations where the climate has a highly seasonal variation in temperature and the cooling demand is high in summer.
Highlights
The International Energy Agency (IEA) baseline scenario estimates that cooling electricity consumption will increase from 2.200 TWh in 2020 to around 6.200 TWh in 2050, due to population increase, quality of life improvements in developing countries and global warming [1]
The ice slurry machine should operate at higher ca pacities during the nights or days when the ambient temperature outside is low, so that the coefficient of performance (COP) of the ice slurry system is higher
We assume that the COP for ice slurry production is fixed at 2 and that the ice production is only generated during the day using solar power
Summary
The International Energy Agency (IEA) baseline scenario estimates that cooling electricity consumption will increase from 2.200 TWh in 2020 to around 6.200 TWh in 2050, due to population increase, quality of life improvements in developing countries and global warming [1]. Due to the rise in variable energy sources, this cooling demand could be coupled with a seasonal thermal energy storage solution to facilitate sustainable development. One thermal energy storage alternative that has gained importance recently is borehole thermal energy storage [2,3] which can provide seasonal energy storage and consists of heating up water or grout 50 to 300 m deep [4,5]. Heat pump systems combined with ice production have been proposed to heat houses during the winter, as the latent heat of water can store large amount of energy [6]. Other seasonal energy storage solutions have been proposed with seasonal pumped hydro-storage [8,9] hydropower storage reservoirs [10,11] and biomass [12]
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