Polansa thermal energy storage cost calculation formula

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 much heat does a thermal energy storage system lose?

As a generalization, a large and well-insulated thermal energy storage system loses 1-2% of its stored heat over the course of 24-hours. The full data-file contains the workings behind our recent deep-dive into thermal energy storage.

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.

Why do thermal energy costs deflate in MWh-terms?

But other lines in the capex build up do not change, and hence these costs deflate in MWH-terms. 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.