How can solar thermal energy storage improve energy security?

Energy security has major three measures: physical accessibility, economic affordability and environmental acceptability. For regions with an abundance of solar energy, solar thermal energy storage technology offers tremendous potential for ensuring energy security, minimizing carbon footprints, and reaching sustainable development goals.

Why is solar thermal technology important?

For regions with an abundance of solar resources, solar thermal technology is extremely promising for ensuring energy security, minimizing carbon footprints, and ultimately achieving sustainable development goals.

What is thermal energy storage?

Thermal energy storage (TES) is a peculiar technical solution to decoupling the demand-side from the supply-side in different time scales, storing solar energy and reutilising it at other times and places . There are three main types of TES: sensible heat storage, latent heat storage, and chemical heat storage .

Can thermal energy storage be used in CSP plants?

The introduction of thermal energy storage (TES) to CSP plants could balance the supply and demand of energy by minimizing the adverse effects of solar energy intermittency . Increased use of irregular RES has an impact on grid stability.

Why is thermal energy storage a major challenge in TCS systems?

Another major challenge in the case of TCS systems is that many potential thermochemical reaction cycles degrade or lose capacity over time resulting in the decrease of thermal energy storage in each subsequent cycle.

Is solar energy a future energy resource?

The utilization of renewable energy as a future energy resource is drawing significant attention worldwide. The contribution of solar energy (including concentrating solar power (CSP) and solar photovoltaic (PV) power) to global electricity production, as one form of renewable energy sources, is generally still low, at 3.6%.