As a clean and high energy density large-scale energy storage technology, liquid air energy storage (LAES) has great development prospects. Among various LAES technologies, solar aided liquid air energy storage (SALAES) is becoming a hotspot for its cleanness and high efficiency, but its dynamic performance characteristics have not yet been revealed. In this paper, the dynamic model and control systems of the discharging process of an SALAES system considering the metal thermal inertia and axial heat conduction are established and two different start-up methods, rated parameter start-up and variable parameter start-up, are proposed and compared. Meanwhile, a parabolic trough collector control strategy with fixed outlet fluid temperature is designed to avoid DNI fluctuations that greatly affect the system's operation. Furthermore, off-design start-ups and predictable molten salt-air heat exchangers trip due to the lack of solar energy caused by continuous bad weather are noted and analyzed. Research results show that the variable parameter start-up is faster and more stable, in which the heat exchange time of two evaporators is about 895 s, the rotor speed stability time is about 12–15 s, and the load stability time is about 75–80 s. The required air quantity for the design condition start-up is 6.84 tons and will rise to 9.02 tons for the off-design start-up. The response times for the unit load to decrease from the rated value to different levels (taking 75 %, 50 %, and 25 % of the rated load as examples) are around 15–20 s, and for the trip of salt-air heat exchangers, the response time is about 20–25 s, resulting in a load fluctuation from 85.5 % to 103.6 %. The research results of this study can guide the dynamic operation of the SALAES system.