Thermal energy storage

- .— —. —

Chapter Xl

ENERGY STORAGE

Chapter Xl.— ENERGY STORAGEPage Page

Major Design Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429 Appedix Xl-A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .487

Thermal Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .432 Appendix Xl-B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .488Overview . . . . . . . ......................432Low-Temperature Storage 0oto 150°C(32o

t o 3 0 2 ° F ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 2Sensible-Heat Storage in Water. . .......432Sensible-Heat in Rocks. . ..............441Latent-Heat, Low-Temperature Storage ..442Concentrated Solutions . ..............445

Thermal Storage at lntermediate andHigh Temperatures . ................447

Refractory Bricks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .447Steel Ingot Storage . ..................449Heat-Transfer Oii Thermal storage .. ....451Refined Fuel Oii Thermal Storage . ......451Latent-Heat Systems. . ................453Environmental Concerns . .............458

Thermochemical Storage. . ..............459Background . . . . . ....................459Design Alternatives. . .................461S u m m a r y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6 4

Electric Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .464Mechanical Storage Devices . ............466Battery Storage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .469

Lead-Acid Batteries. . .................470Advanced Batteries. . .................472

Power Conditioners. . . . . ................477Design Alternatives. . .................477System Performance. . ................480

Appendix Xl-C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .*..496

LIST OF TABLES

Table No. PageI. Proposed Thermal Storage Materials .....4332. Phase-Change TEC Materials in the Low-

Temperature Regime With Melting PointsA b o v e 7 5 ° C ( 1 6 7oF) . ..................443

3. Candidate High-Temperature Thermal-EnergyStorage Materials Without Phase Change .449

4. Commercial Organic and inorganic Heat-Transfer Agents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .452

5. Properties of Latent-Heat Thermal StorageMaterials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .456

6. Candidate Chemicat-Energy StorageReactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..462

7. Conventional Hydroelectric CapacityConstructed and Potentiai at ExistingDams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .............469

8. Economic Specification (5-hr Battery) ....4719. Load-Leveling Battries: Candidates and

Characteristics; Developers and Demonstra-tion Dates . . . . . . . .....................473

10. Loss Mechanisms of iron-REDOXBatteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................477

11. System Cost Estimates for Near-,Battery System Costs. . .................481 Intermediate-, and Long-Term . . . . . . .. ...482

B-1. Thermal Properties of Soils . ...........492C-1. Assumptions for Hot Fuel Oil Thermal

Storage, Single Family House . . . . . . . . . . 498C-2. Assumptions for Therminol-55/Rock

Thermal Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498C-3. Assumptions for Steel-Ingot Thermai

Energy Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500C-4. Containment Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501C-5. Latent-Heat Storage Tank Assumptions. . 501C-6. Assumptions for NaOH Latent-Heat

Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502C-7. Assumptions for NAF/MgF2 Latent-Heat

Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No. Page1. Possible Locations for Storage Equipment

in Onsite Solar Energy Systems. . ........4302. Vertical Tank in a Drilled Hole With Foamed-

in-Place Insulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4343. Installation of insulated, Underground, Storage

Tank at Solar Heated and Air-ConditionedBurger King, Camden, N.J.. . . ...........435

4. installation of Fiberglass UndergroundTanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

5. Cost of Buried Tanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4376. Megatherm Pressurized-Water Heat-Storage

Tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...........4397. Predicted Performance of an Aquifer Used

for Thermal Storage . . . . . . . . . . . .........4408. Potential Sites for Aquifer Storage

Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4419. Osmotic Pressure Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

10. Heat of Mixing Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44711. Low-Temperature Thermal Storage Cost

per kWht Versus Storage Capacity . ......448

12. A High-Temperature Thermal StorageDevice Designed for Residential Use ... ..450

13. Steel-ingot, Sensibie-Heat Storage System 45014. Steei-ingot Temperature Profiles at Various

Times in a Typical Cycle. . ..............45015. The High-Temperature Heat Storage System

at the Sandia Total Energy Experiment. . . . 45416. Design of “Therm-Bank” Space Heater , .. 45417. Philips Latent-Heat Storage System With

Vacuum Multifoil Insulation. . ...........45518. Thermodynamic Behavior of Candidate

Latent-Heat Storage Salts ..... .........45719. Use of a Sodium Heat Pipe With a Latent-

Heat High-Temperature Thermal StorageSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458

20. Typical Thermochemical StorageTechnique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......460

21. High-Temperature Thermal Storage Costper kWht Versus Storage Capacity . ......465

22. An isometric View of an UndergroundPumped Storage Plant . ................467

23. Conventional Hydroelectric Capacity Poten-tial at Existing Dams. . .................468

24. iron-REDOX Battery Structure and PlumbingDiagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

25. Model of iron-REDOX Battery Facility. .. ..47826. The Elements of a Power Conditioning

System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47927. Efficiency of a Solid-State Inverter as aFunction of Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48028. Power-Conditioning Cost Versus Power .. 483A-1. Permissible Cost of Storage Equipment

as a Function of Energy Prices DuringStorage Charge and Discharge . . . . . . . . . .487

B-1. Thermal Conductivity of Insulation. .. ...490B-2. Annual Thermal Losses From Uninsulated

Storage Tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493B-3. Rate of Heat-Loss to Ground . ..........493

Chapter Xl

Energy Storage

MAJOR DESIGN CHOICES

Energy can be stored in thermal form by heating or chilling liquids orsolids; in mechanical form by using mechanical or electrical energy to pumpwater to high reservoirs, spin flywheels or compress air; and in chemical formby driving battery reactions, producing hydrogen or other chemicals to gener-ate heat, or by distilling solutions. This chapter discusses a range of storagetechnologies which could have a major impact on the cost and performanceof onsite solar energy systems during the next 10 to 20 years; it does not at-tempt to review all possible storage technologies.

Most of these approaches require specialized storage equipment, but insome cases it may be possible to integrate storage into mechanical struc-tures which serve other functions. Careful architecture can increase the in-herent ability of walls and floors, for example, to store thermal energy.

Energy can be stored at a variety of points in an onsite solar system andsome of the opportunities are presented in figure Xl-1. The options for theheat engine system are most complex:

1. Energy can be stored at relatively high temperatures before it is used bya heat engine. In this form, high-temperature storage is equivalent to a

2.

3.

It

supply of fossil fuel.

Heat rejected by the engines can be stored at relatively low tempera-tures.

Electricity generated by the system can be stored in batteries or otherelectric storage devices.

is unlikely that all three types of storage would be used in a single in-stal I at ion.

Storage systems can provide a useful buf-fering role, regardless of whether solarenergy is used, since the timing of demandsand the timing of generation desirable forpeak performance of generating equipmentseldom coincide, Most of the equipment dis-cussed in this chapter was developed for sys-tems in which solar energy played little orno part.

Some of the uses of storage are:

1. Storage in solar devices can be used toprovide energy during cloudy periodsand at night. Storage can also be usedto facilitate starting large solar turbinesystems in the morning by preheatingthe equipment and to allow a gradualcooling of the system when it is closed

at night. It can also mitigate the rapid ,temperature changes which can resultfrom sudden fluctuations in the Sun’sintensity during per iods of part ia lcloudiness.

2. Storage equipment can be used tomake more effective use of generating

equipment. As noted earlier, withoutstorage the output of generating equip-ment must be continuously adjusted tomeet fluctuating demands. This meansthat generating equipment is either idleor operating at part capacity much ofthe time— resulting in higher electriccosts since capital charges must bepaid on the equipment, even if it is notused. Operating plants frequently below full capacity also means that the

429

—

430 ● Solar Technology to Today’s Energy Needs

Figure Xl=1.—Possible Locations for Storage Equipment in Onsite Solar Energy Systems

ThermalCollector

ThermalLoads

LowTemperature

Storage

I A

ThermalCollector

Chemical Transport

HighTemperature

Storage

HeatEngine

PhotovoltaicCells

CellCooling

I LowTemperature

Storage

ElectricLoads

ThermalLoads

Hot Water Transport Electric

ElectricStorage

TemperatureStorage I

I

Transport

ElectricLoads

ThermalLoads

Thermal Transport

Ch. Xl Energy Storage ● 431

generators are not operating at peak ef-ficiency. Most large coal and nuclearplants cannot readily be adjusted tomeet changing loads; demand fluctua-t ions must be met with generat ingequipment which burns oil or gas—fuels which are becoming scarce andexpensive.

Generating capacity can be reduced withstorage equipment if the storage is filledwhile capacity exceeds demand, and dis-charged during periods of high demand. Inelectric utilities, this means that gas- and oil-burning plants can be replaced by storagecharged from coal or nuclear plants func-tioning at close to their top output all year.In the case of solar collectors, it means thatcollectors can be sized to meet averagedemands instead of peak demands.

With the exception of pumped hydroelec-tric storage, no electric storage* device isnow economically attractive to electric util-ities. The rising cost of oil and gas as well asprogress in storage technology may reversethis situation in the near future however,and the industry will demonstrate a numberof advanced systems during the next fewyears. The possibilities have been reviewedin two recent studies sponsored by the Elec-tric Power Research Institute (EPRI). l 2

Electricity which will eventually be usedfor electric resistance heating can be storedvery inexpensively by using the electricity toheat water or bricks in onsite storage de-vices. EIectric air-conditioning can also be

—

* The term “electric storage” IS used throughout thischapter to mean storage which IS charged by andwhich discharges elect rlclty, even though the energyIn the storage device IS not I n the form of electricity

‘Ralph Whitaker and j Im Blrk (E PRI), “Storage Bat-teries The Case and the Candidates, ” EPR/ /ourna/,October 1976, p 13

‘An Assessment of Energy Storage Systems Suitablefor Use by E/ectr~c Utllltfes, EPRI project 225, ERDA E(11 -1 }2501 , ) Uly 1975

“stored” inexpensively in tanks of ice orchilled water.

Storage in this form will not be used un-less prices to consumers are changed duringthe day to reflect the fact that electricit y

costs less to generate during off peak hoursat night than it does during the day whendemands are large. These simple storagedevices are extensively used in Europe andGreat Britain, where such “time-of-day”rates have been in use for many years andare beginning to be marketed in the fewparts of the United States where these ratesare being introduced. 3

(The circumstances under which storagedevices can be used economically in load-Ieveling applications are discussed in appen-dix Xl-B.)

3. Storage can improve the performanceof heating, cooling, and other energy-consuming equipment in much thesame way that it can reduce the cost ofgenerating electricity. Without storage,the equipment must be large enough tomeet peak demands. This means thatthe equipment must be operated at lessthan its maximum capacity much of thetime, increasing the need for generatingequipment and decreasing system effi-ciency. Storage can have the additionalbenefit of permitting heat-pump de-vices and air-conditioning devices tooperate when ambient conditions aremost favorable. Air-conditioning sys-tems, for example, are much more effi-cient at night when ambient air temper-atures are relatively low.

3Wi II iam H. Wilcox, statement delivered to thePennsylvania P u b l i c Utlllty Commlsslon ( 7 6P, R.M. D -7), jUIY 25,1977

432 Solar Technology to Today’s Energy Needs

THERMAL STORAGE

OVERVIEW

There are three basic approaches to stor-ing thermal energy:

●

●

●

Heating a liquid or solid which does notmelt or otherwise change state duringheating. (This is called “sensible-heat”storage, and the amount of energystored is proportional to the system’stemperature. )

Heating a material which melts, vapor-izes, or undergoes some other changeof state at a constant temperature. (Thisis calIed “latent-heat” storage. )

Using heat to produce a chemical reac-tion ‘which will then release this heatwhen the reaction is reversed.

Equipment for storing energy as sensibleheat can be simple and relatively inexpen-sive if fluids are stored at temperatures be-low 400 o F. One difficulty with sensible-heat storage is that it can be difficult to en-sure a constant output temperature.

If a constant temperature is desired tooperate a heat engine, or for some other pur-pose, two separate storage tanks are re-quired: one to store the hot liquids and oneto store the low-temperature fIuids emergingfrom the engine.

Latent-heat storage can supply energy atconstant temperature from a single con-tainer and can usualIy store greater amountsof energy in a given volume or weight ofmaterial. The materials used, however, arerelatively expensive and problems are en-countered in transmitting thermal energy in-to and out of the storage medium.

Chemical storage techniques can be usedat a great variety of temperatures and havethe advantage of allowing storage of reduc-t ion products at ambient temperatures(eliminating the need for expensive insula-tion). Chemical energy can also be trans-ported conveniently. Recovering energy

from storage could be expensive, however,if expensive catalysts are required. Chemicalstorage can be expensive if some of thechemicals which must be stored are in theform of gases requiring large pressurizedtanks.

A number of promising reactions are be-ing examined, however, and there is reasonto be optimistic that an attractive technol-ogy can be developed. Research in this areais in a formative stage.

Table Xl-1 summarizes some of the mater-ials and approaches which have been sug-gested for thermal energy storage,

LOW-TEMPERATURE STORAGE0° to 150°C (32° to 302° F)

Sensible-Heat Storage in Water

A variety of techniques have been exam-ined for storing relatively low-temperaturethermal energy, but the use of water as thestorage medium for liquid systems has beenthe dominant approach and is likely to re-main so for at least a decade.4 5 Most solarheating and hot water systems use an in-sulated hot water tank located in the build-ing equipment room or buried in the ground.Figure Xl-2 shows a cross section of a typicalinstalIation, and figures Xl-3 and Xl-4 showthe installation of steel and fiberglass tank.Tanks can be made from a variety of materi-als, and the costs of a number of commer-cially available containers are summarizedin figure Xl-5. It may be possible to reducethe cost of large tanks significantly by sim-ply lining an excavation with a watertight

‘C L Segaser (Oak Ridge National Laboratory),Thermal Energy Storage Materials and Devices, OR NL-HUD-M IUS-23, August 1975

‘George C. Szego, “Hot Water Storage SystemsCroup Report, ” i n Proceedings of the Workshop onSolar Energy Storage Subsystems for the Heating andCooling of Buildings, NSF-RA-N-75-041, ASH RAE, Apr16-18,1975, pp 17-23.

Ch. Xl Energy Storage 433

Table Xl-1 .—Proposed Thermal Storage Materials— —..—

Temperature Regime

200 o-350 oC (392°-662oF)0“-15 “C (32 0-500 f=) 30 o-150 oC (86°-302oF) (heat engines and

Storage (stores cooling (process heat and low- process heat, absorption 400 ”-1,000 oC(752o-1,832 oF)type for air-conditioning) temperature heat engines) air-conditioning ) (heat engines)

— ..—— -. -— — ———

Sensible — waterheat

Latent – C1 4/ C1 6

heat paraffin— 1 -Decanol

—other paraffIns— Inorganic salt,

hydrate eutectics— ice

Chemicalreact ion

—pressurized water— rocks

— Inorganic salt,hydrate eutectics(e. g., CaCI2 6 H20 )

—organic compounds(e. g., paraffin &CC14)

—metal hydrides(e. g., LaNi5H 2)

—fuel oil—organic heat-transfer

liquids (e. g.,Therminol, etc. )

— rocks—steel—pressurized water— NaOH

— rocks—steel—heat-transfer salts

(e. g., HITEC)

— in organic compounds(LIH, NaOH, KN02/

N a N 02)—eutectic salts

(LiF, NaF, etc. ]

CO + H2‘CH4 + H202 S 03 = 2S0 2 + 02

—.

(and possibly insulating) material. Plastic in-sulations (such as polyurethane) can simplybe floated on the surface of the thermal lakethus produced.

Insulation can represent a significant partof the cost of small water tanks, but in verylarge devices (i. e., in systems capable ofholding more than about 30,000 k W ht o rabout 160,000 gal. ) the insulating value ofdry earth surrounding the tank may be ade-quate. The insulating value of dry soil 10meters (33 feet) thick is roughly equivalentto that of a layer of polyurethane foam 30cm (12 inches) thick. Very dry, low-conduc-tivity soil would be equivalent to 1.3 m (4.3ft) of polyurethane. The heat conduction ofmoist soil should decrease to this value as itis heated by energy escaping from the tankand dries out. b Since most buildings arelocated in areas where ground water is quitedeep, earth insulation may be able to pro-vide the bulk of the insulation required forlarge thermal storage systems. It must berecognized, however, that it can take as

‘j Shelton, “Underground Storage of Heat In SolarHeating System s,” So/ar Energy, 17 (2), 1975, p 138

much as a year for the earth around a largestorage tank to reach equiIibrium by heatingand drying, and a considerable investmentof energy may be required to achieve thisequiIibrium. ’ Earth insuIation is examined ingreater detail in appendix Xl-B.

The value of a sensible-heat storage sys-tem is increased if it is able to return energyat a temperature close to the temperature atwhich fluids were delivered from the collec-tors.

One way of doing this is simply to use twostorage tanks, one of which holds water at arelatively low temperature (i. e., at the tem-perature of fluids returned from heatingradiators) and another which holds fluidsemerging from the CoIIectors, This is moreexpensive, although it does not necessarily

require doubling the cost. In a large system,several tanks may be needed to provide ade-quate storage. All that is needed in this cir-cumstance is to maintain one empty tankfor shifting liquids from hot to cold storage.

‘Shelton, op clt , p 143

434 . Solar Technology to Today’s Energy Needs

Figure Xl-2. -Vertical Tank in a Drilled Hole With Foamed= in= PlaceInsulation (for cohesive soils only)

Vent

Q

Welded nipples forinput-output, heatexchangers, vents,instruments, etc.

Steel tank shellw/fiberglass coating

Alternate shells:

Fiberglass pipeasbestos cement pipereinforced plasticmortarprecast concrete pipe

\

~ 5 ’ – 15’ Diameter

Typical Capacities

4’ Diameter x 10’ Depth – 940 Gallons6’ Diameter x 12’ Depth – 2,538 Gallons8’ Diameter x 16’ Depth — 6,015 Gallons

10’ Diameter x 30’ Depth — 17,624 Gallons

Vertical tank in a drilled hole foamed-in-placeinsulation (for cohesive soils only)

SOURCE: E. E. Pickering, “Residential Hot Water Solar Energy Storage,” Proceedings of the Workshop on SolarEnergy Storage Subsystems for the Heating and Cooling ot Buildings, NSF-RANN-75-041, Awl 1975, P P.24-37


Figure Xl-4.— Installation of Fiberglass Underground Tanks

During Construction, a 1,500gallon underground water storage tank is eased into positionat a prepared excavation. The tank, made of lightweight resin-reinforced fiberglass, is oneof the two installed as part of the solar climate control system.

SOURCE: September 1976 Solar Engineering, page 23.

Such a device would require a control sys-tem and a series of adjustable valves.

In most single-tank systems, the coldwater returning from a heating system mixeswith the hot water in the storage tank, grad-ualIy lowering the temperature of the fluids.It would be desirable to maintain a tempera-ture gradient across the tank. A recent set ofmeasurements on the behavior of a typicalvertical cylindrical tank indicated that whilethe water in the tank did not maintain aperfect “stratified” temperature gradient,the hot and cold liquids did not mix com-pletely, and a substantial temperature gra-dient remained. ’

Most techniques suggested for increasingthe temperature gradients possible in single-

‘Warren F. Philips and Robert A. Pate, “Mass andEnergy Transfer in a Hot Liquid Energy Storage Sys-terns, ” Proceedings, 1977 Meeting of the AmericanSection of the International Solar Energy Society,Orlando, Fla , june 6-10,1977, p. 17-6.

tank systems involve the use of internal par-titions or one-way valves inside the tanks.9

Another method being studied involvesmaintaining a gradient in the density of asalt mixture inside the tank. Heated, highconcentrations of salt remain near the bot-tom of the storage tank if the drop in densitydue to heating is offset by the higher densityresulting from the salt mixture. System sta-bility has been difficult to maintain and ex-periments are continuing.

Given that the technology of large ther-mal-storage devices is simple, and its poten-tial for energy savings so great, the smallamount of work done in the area is astonish-

‘Sui Lin, “An Experimental Investigation of theThermal Performance of a Two-Compartment WaterStorage Tank,” Proceedings, the 1977 Annual Meetingof the American Section of the International SolarEnergy Society (l SE S), Orlando, Fla., june 6-10, 1977,p. 17-1.

IOD. L. Elwell, “Stability Criteria for Solar (Thermal-Saline) Ponds,” /SES, p. 16-29.


I

.00m

b

.*

o

0N

oT

a)

m

‘al


Ing. Possibly the field is not sufficientlyromantic.

It is possible to store water at tempera-tures above the boiling point if pressurizedtanks are used. A number of such pressur-ized storage systems are available in Euro-pean markets’ and a device manufacturedby the Megatherm Corporation of East Pro-vidence, R. l., is now available on the U.S.market. The Megatherm device, which is il-lustrated in figure Xl-6, stores water at tem-peratures up to 280° F (138 ‘C). 12 13 T h edevice is sold to institutions which can useinterruptible electric service or take advan-tage of “time-of-day” rates (see chapter V).

Water storage is probably not an attrac-tive option for storage above 1500 to 200‘C(300 0 to 400° F) since the pressure requiredwould greatly increase the cost and dangerof operating such systems. Local ordinancesfrequently require all water tanks whichoperate at temperatures above 2000 F, con-tain more than 120 gallons, or require morethan 2 X 1 05 Btu/hr inputs to comply withASME low-pressure heating boiler codes. ”Pressure above 50 psia may require the pres-ence of a trained operating engineer.

An EPRI study examined the feasibility ofusing steam accumulators to store heat forlater use in a standard steam-electric gener-ating plant and concluded that in this ap-plication, storage systems using fuel oil asthe storage medium were less expensive. 5

It may also be possible to store very largeamounts of low-temperature thermal energyby pumping hot water into contained under-ground aquifers, as illustrated in figure Xl-7.

‘1A W Goldstern, S t e a m S t o r a g e /nsta//ations,Pergamon Press, 1970.

‘*The Megatherm Corporation, East Providence,R.1 , )Uly 1976

1‘Therma/ Energy Storage Materials and Devices,OR NL-HUD-MIUS-23, August 1975, pp. 9-10.

14 ASME, “Heating Boilers, ” ASME Boi/er and Pres.sure Vesse/ Code, Section IV, New York, N. Y., 1968.

1‘An Assessment of Energy Storage Systems Suitab/efor Use by E/ectric Uti/ities, EM-264, E PRI Project 225,ERDA E (11-1 }2501, Final Report prepared by PublicService Electric and Gas Company, Newark, N j , Vol.11, Jllly 1976, pp 4-45

If a deep aquifer is able to withstand highpressures, it may be possible to store fluidsat temperatures as high as 200‘C (3920 F),but it is more likely that somewhat lowertemperatures will be used. 16

It should be possible to recover 70 to 90percent of the energy injected and to main-tain a reasonable thermal gradient acrossthe aquifer (the warmest water will tend tofIoat to the top of the structure).

Since the only investment required forsuch a storage device is a series of wells forinject ing and withdrawin g water, storagecosts can be very low. There is some dis-agreement about the cost of constructin g

such systems, but costs could be as low as$ 0 . 0 3 / k W h t

17- - with power costs in the rangeof $5/kW.18 Pumping energy should be in therange of $0.01/kWh (1970 dollars).

Aquifers adequate for thermal storage ap-plications are found in wide areas of thecountry (see figure Xl-8). It should be possi-ble to use aquifers of brackish water as wellas freshwater wells and, since there is littlenet consumption of water in the storageprocess, the technique will not deplete thewater resources of a region or lower watertables. The environmental impact of thesesystems has, however, never been system-atically addressed.

While a number of theoretical studies ofaquifer storage systems have been under-taken, 192021 there have been few field tests.One large-scale experiment has been under-

“W. Hauz and C F Meyer, “Energy Conservation:Is the Heat Storage Well the Key, ” Public Ut///eses

Fortnight/y, Apr. 24,1975.“General Electric Corporation, Heat Storage We//s

Using Sa/ine and Other Aquifers, presentation to theU.S. Department of the Interior, Mar 5, 1976

1‘General E Iectric Corporation, op. clt“C. F. Meyer and D K. Todd, “Conserving Energy

with Heat Storage Wells, ” Environmental Science andTechnology, 7, p512,

2 0C. F. Tsang, et al,, Numerica/ Mode/ing of Cyc/ingStorage of Hot Water in Aquifers, EOS, 57,918

“C. F. Tsang, e t al,, “Modeling Underground Stor-age in Aquifers ot Hot Water from Solar Power Sys-terns, ” Proceedings, the I SES 1977 Annual Meeting, p.16-20.


—

I

x


Figure Xl-7.— Predicted Performance of an Aquifer Used for Thermal Storage

200

160

120

80

40

0

Injection Temperature

i

I

A Daily cycle (24 hours)O Semi-annual cycle, partial

penetrationv Semi-annual cycle, full

penetration● Yearly cycle, full

penetration

1 2 3 4 5Cycle

40

0

.

.A Daily cycle (24 hours)O Semi-annual cycle, partial

penetration.v Semi-annual cycle, full

penetration. Yearly cycle, full.

penetration

1 1 I 1 1

1 2 3 4 5Cycle

Temperature at the end of each production period (min!mum pro- Percentage of energy recovered over energy Inlected versu>

ductlon temperature) versus cycle number cycle number

SOURCE’ C, F Tsang, et al., “Modeling Underground Storage in Aquifers of Hot Water from Solar Power Systems, ”ISES Proceed{rrgs of the 1977 Annual Meeting, page 16-20.

DRAWfNG FROM: Walter Hauz and Charles F Meyer, “Energy Conservation: Is the Heat Storage Well the Key?,”Publlc UfWt~es Fortrr/ght/y, Apr 24, 1975, p 34.


Figure Xl-8. - Potential Sites for Aquifer Storage Systems(Aquifers In the Shaded Areas Should Have Adequate Water Flow)

SOURCE: Geraghty, et al., Water At/es of the United Stares, Water Information Center, Port Washington, N. Y., 3rd Ed., 1973.

taken near Bucks, Ala. Approximately 2.4million gallons of warm water were injectedinto an aquifer and stored at a temperatureof 105” to 1070 F (41 0 to 42 “C) and storedfor 30 days. About 65 percent of the energywas recovered when the water was pumpedout of the formation. 2 2 unfortunately, thewater used in the test was taken from a localriver and contained small clay particleswhich began to clog the aquifer after about2 million gallons (7.6 million liters) of waterhad been injected. The test was stoppedwhen injection pressures became excessive.

The experiment will be repeated usingwater from an aquifer in the same regionwhich does not contain clay particles capa-ble of plugging the aquifer. If all goes well,about 20 million gallons will be injectedover a period of 2 months.

Swedish engineers have recently sug-gested that it may also be possible to store

22 F MOIZ Department of C ivi I Engineering, Au bumUniversity, private communication, November 1977

large volumes of heated water in plasticbubbles suspended in a lake.

Sensible-Heat in Rocks

Energy can be stored at low and inter-mediate temperatures by heating rocks heldin insulated containers. Rock storage is typ-ically used with solar heating systems usingair to transfer heat from collectors to stor-age since the rocks can be heated by simplyblowing air through the spaces between therocks. (If Iiquid is used in the collectors, amore elaborate heat-exchange mechanism isrequired. ) Rock storage can be both simpleand inexpensive, but designing an optimumsystem can be difficult since the perform-ance is affected by the shape, size, density,specific heat, and other properties of therocks used. 23

“W D Eshleman, et, al., A Numerical Simulation ofHeat Transfer in Rock Beds, ISES, Proceeding of the1977 Annual Meeting, p. 17-21.

‘ 2 R.842 () - 2~


It may also be possible to store largequantities of sensible thermal energy in un-derground rock formations using a tech-nique which is essentially the solid-stateequivalent of the aquifer storage discussedpreviously. A number of schemes have beenproposed for storing energy in this way:24 25

●

●

●

●

Digging deep parallel trenches into dryearth (or land which is “dewatered”with a pumping well) and filling thesetrenches with crushed rock. Thecrushed rock would be heated from aseries of distribution pipes buried withthe crushed rock, and heat would beremoved by blowing air through similarburied pipes.

Excavating a large area in sandy soil,depositing a layer of material whichcan prevent ground water from enteringthe excavation, and filling part of theexcavation with crushed rock. An in-sulating layer would be placed on topof the rock. (This scheme would lead toa significant change in local topog-raphy. ) Hot air distribution pipes wouldbe buried in the layer of crushed rock.

Digging tunnels through layers of sand-stone or other porous rock in naturallyoccurring formations. I n one proposal,the rock is heated by sending hot airthrough pipes located in an interme-diate plane in the rock formation. Theair passes through the rock formationand is returned through a piping net-work on planes above and below the in-jection plane. Heat is removed in thesame way when cold air is introduced inthe intermediate plane.

Caverns of crushed rock could be pro-duced by drilling and blasting under-ground rock layers if the rock layersavailable were not suitably porous. Pre-

“M P Hardy, et al , ‘ Large Scale Thermal StorageIn Rock Construct Ion, Utilization and Economics, ”12th /ECEC Conference, p 583.

‘5M Rlaz, et al,, “High Temperature Energy StorageIn Native Rocks, ” Proceedings, the I SES joint Con-ference Sharing the Sun–Solar Technology in theSeventies, Volume 8, p 123 (1976) Pergamon Press

Iiminary calculations have indicatedthat performance of the storage bedwould be optimum if the rock particlesare about 0.3 cm (0.1 inch) in diameter.

It has been estimated that energy couldbe stored in these formations at tempera-tures up to 500‘C (9320 F). The cost of thesystem will vary from site to site, but it maybe possible to build devices for $0.03 to$0.09/kWh and $150 to $400/kW, if the stor-age cycle involves removing air at a temper-ature of 500‘C above the temperature atwhich i t was injected.2s I f a temperatureswing of only 50‘C is used, storage costswould be on the order of $.30 to $.90/kWh.

Latent” Heat, Low=Temperature Storage

An enormous variety of phase-change ma-terials have been examined for possible usein low-temperature storage systems .27 28 29 30

The properties of a selected set of these ma-terials are summarized in table Xl-2. Phasechange materials used in low-temperatureapplications are of three basic types: in-organic salt compounds, complex organicchemicals (such as paraffins), and solutionsof salts and acids. Water itself can be usedas a latent-heat storage medium to store“coolness;” the latent heat of melting ice is0.093 kWh/kg.

A successful latent-heat system must havethe following properties: 31

“Hardy, op. cit , p. 590.“Maria Telkes, Thermal Energy Storage, IECEC 1975

Record, p. 11128D. V Hale, et al , Phase Change Materials Hand-

book, NASA-CR-61 36. Lockheed Missiles and SpaceCompany, September 1971

“C L Segaser, MIUS Technology Evaluation: Ther-mal Energy Storage Materia/s and Devices (ORN L-HUD-M IUS-23), August 1975, p. 28

‘OH C. Fisher, Thermal Storage Applications of theIceMaker Heat Pump, Oak Ridge National Laboratory,9-30-76. (Paper prepared for presentation at Penn-sylvania E Iectric Association, Harrisburg, Pa. )

“Harold Lorsch, Conservation and Better Utiliza-tion of Electric Power by Means of Thermal Storageand Solar Heat ing – Final S u m m a r y R e p o r t ,NSF/RAN N/SE/G 127976/PR73/5, j uly 31, 1975 Somephrases taken verbatim.


Table X1-2.—Phase-Change TEC Materials in the Low-TemperatureRegime With Melting Points Above 75°C [167°F]

TEC material— — —

M g ( N 03)2 6 H20 .B a ( O H )2. 8H20. .N H4Br(33.4% )CO(NH2)2 . . . . .

Acetamide( C H3C O N H2 ) .

Naphthalene( C1 0H 8 ) ., ... . .

Propionamide( C2H 5C O N H2 )

—Latent heat of

Melting point phase changeClass Lab test* “C “F (Cal/G) (Btu/lb)

———. .

inorganic compound S 89 192.2 NA NAinorganic compound G 82 179.6 63.5 114.3

inorganic eutectic G 76 168.8 NA NA

organic compound s 82 179.6 NA NA

organic compound G 83 181.4 35.3 63.5

organic compound G 84 183.2 40.2 72.3

— —— —NOTES NA — not available

‘S — satisfactory performanceG — good performance

SOURCE Hoffman (Oak Ridge National Laboratories), prepared for OTA, 1976.

A melting point within the desired tem-perature range.

A high heat of fusion (this reduces stor-age volume and material demands).

Dependability of phase change (a meltshould solidify predictably at the freez-ing point and shouId not supercool).

Small volume change during phasetransition (a volume change makesheat-exchange difficult, and can placestress on the storage containers; mostmaterials increase in density when theyfreeze, but water and gallium alloys ex-pand).

Low-vapor pressure (some materialshave high-vapor pressures near theirmelting points, placing stress on con-tainers).

If the latent-heat medium is a mixture,it must remain homogeneous; i.e., itsparts should not settle out.

has proven difficult to combine all ofthese properties in a single system.

The rate at which energy can be with-drawn from many phase-change storage sys-

tems is limited by the fact that the storagemedium usualIy begins to solidify on the sur-face of heat exchangers; the layer of solidmaterial acts as an insulator. Designs for in-creasing effective heat exchange areas haveusually involved “microencapsulation” (inwhich the storage medium is separated intoa number of smalI containers suspended in aheat exchange medium) or shallow trays.

The General Electric Company has recent-ly proposed another approach. In their sys-tem, the phase-change materials is con-tained in a series of long, cylindrical con-tainers which rotate (typically at 3 rpm) tokeep the material mixed and to maintain auniform temperature throughout the mix-ture. GE claims that with this approach,solidification begins at a number of nucleidistributed throughout the Iiquid and not onthe walls of the cylinders,

INORGANIC SALT COMPOUNDS

Inexpensive salt mixtures have the poten-

tial of requiring up to 100 times less volumefor low-temperature storage than a simplesensible-heat, water-storage system. The dis-advantage of all such systems compared


with simple water storage is the need to usemore complex heat exchangers, nucleatingdevices, and corrosion-resistant containers(if corrosive salts are used). The two cate-gories of salt solutions which have receivedthe mos t a t t en t ion a re inorgan ic sa l thydrates and clathrate and semiclathratehydrates.

If the concentrations of the componentsof a mixture are adjusted so that the mixtureattains its lowest possible melting point, themixture is termed “eutectic. ” In such a mix-ture, melting occurs at a constant tem-perature. 32

Inorganic salt hydrates are crystallinecompounds of the general form S • nH2O ,where S is an anhydrous salt. The hydratedissolves when t h e s e c o m p o u n d s a r eheated, absorbing energy.

Clathrate and semiclathrate hydrates arecompounds in which water molecules sur-round molecules of materials which do notstrongly interact with water. These materialsmelt in the range of 00 to 30‘C (30 to 860 F)and have heats of fusion which are in therange of 78-118 Btu/lb; most have not beenstudied in detail. 33 Materials suitable for usein connection with space heating (meltingpoints in the range of 30° to 48‘C (86° to1180 F) and heats of fusion in the range of 66to 120 Btu/lb.) include Na 2S 04 . 10H 20(Glauber’s salts), Na 2H P 04 . 12H20, andC a C l2 ● 6 H20. Materials suitable for storing“coolness” (melting points in the range of130 to 18‘C (550 to 750 F) and heats of fu-sion in the range of 70 to 80 Btu/lb. ) includeeutectic salt mixtures such as mixtures ofN a2S 04/ 1 0 H20/NaCl, and N a2S O4/ 1 0 H2O/ -KCI.34

“See, for example, Walter J. Moore, Physica/ Chemi-stry, 3rd edition, Prentice-Hal 1, 1964, p. 148.

“M. Altman, et a[,, Conservation and Better Utiliza-tion of Electric Power by Means of Thermal EnergyStorage and Solar Heating, Final Summary Report,NSF/RANN/SEGl 27976/PR73/5, University of Penn-sylvania, National Center for Energy Managementand Power, July 31, 1973, pp. 6-51

“Segaser, op. cit., p, 30.‘ST. E. Johnson, MIT, private communication, May

1978, R. Stepler, “Solar Lab Soaks Up Sunshine WithExotic New Materials,” Popu/ar Science, June 1978,pp. 96-98.

Many of the clathrates examined do notappear to melt in temperature regions usefulfor heating or cooling applications.

A technique for encapsulating a proprie-tary mixture of Glaubers salts, fumed silica,and other chemicals (melting temperature730 F (230 C) in a polymer concrete shell hasbeen developed by the Massachusetts insti-tute of Technology working in cooperationwith The Architectural Research Corpora-tion of Livonia, Mich., and the Cabot Cor-poration of Billerica, Mass. The s t o r a g e

elements are formed into units the size ofstandard ceiling tiles (2 ft x 2 ft x 1 in) andare designed to be installed as ceiling tiles inpassively heated solar buildings. They storea b o u t 0 . 7 k W h / m2 of cei l ing area, andshould sell wholesale for about $32/m2 in ini-tial production (about 13 times the cost ofstandard acoustical ceiling tiles). The de-vices thus have an effective storage cost of$39/kWh storage capacity. MIT does not ex-pect prices to fall rapidly; apparently mate-rial costs already represent a large fractionof the cost of production. While the tilescan be hung on hangers similar to those nowused for acoustical ceiling tiles, their greaterweight, which is 54kg./m2, requires the use ofheavier gauge hangers.

The tiles, which will be marketed underthe trade name “Sol-Ar-Tile,” have beendemonstrated in a 900 ft2 passively heatedsolar house built by MIT’s Architecture De-partment. Timothy E. Johnson, who headsthe project, reported in May 1978 that tilessuffered no deterioration after acceleratedlifetime testing, in which the tiles underwent2,400 freeze-thaw cycles. The building usesspecially designed window blinds which re-fleet sunlight from the southern windows tothe ceiling. Johnson claims that the phasechange medium is nontoxic. 35

ORGANIC COMPOUNDS

Organic compounds can also be used forstoring energy as latent heat. These mater-ials have the advantage of relatively highheats of fusion, and few of the materials ex-amined present problems of supercooling orhigh vapor pressures. Unfortunately, some

Ch. Xi Energy Storage 445

of the most attract ive organic materialsunder consideration (e. g., paraffins) have arelatively large volume change upon melt-ing (nearly 10 percent in some cases), areflammable, and can cause stress cracking ifthe containment vessel is not constructedfrom a material as strong as steel. Experi-mental paraffin storage systems, however,have been operated successfully. 36

Materials suitable for heating include ar-tificial spermaceti (manufactured by LipoChemicals) and paraffin wax (possibly mixedwith carbon tetrachloride). These materialsmelt in the range of 350 to 50‘C (95 0 t o1220 F), and have heats of fusion on theorder of 40 to 90 Btu/lb.37 Materials such asAcetamide (CH 3CONH 2), Naphthalene( CIOH 8) and Propionamide (C 2H , C O H N 2) canbe used to store energy at slightly highertemperatures, melting in the range of 820 to83‘C (180 0 to 1830 F) and having heats of fu-sion in the range of 55 to 72 Btu/lb. 38 Mater-ials suitable for storing coolness includeparaffins and olefins with freezing points inthe range of 30 to 80 C and heats of fusion inthe range of 65 to 85 Btu/lb. 39

Concentrated Solutions

Concentrated solutions can also be usedto store low-temperature energy without aphase change. It has been suggested, for ex-ample, that solutions of LiBr utilized in ab-sorption air-conditioner systems could beused to store solar energy in the “generator”portion of an absorption unit. 41 42 42 It has

“A D Fong and C W Miller, “Efficiency of Paraf -f~n Wax as a Thermal Energy Storage System, ” Pro-ceedings, the 1977 Annual Meeting of I SE S, p 16-6,

“lbld , p 33“C A Lane, et al , Solar Energy Subsystems Emp/oy-

IrIg Isothermal Heat Storage Materials, ERDA- 117, UC-94a May 1975

‘9 Segaser, op clt , p 33‘“j Baughn and A jackman, Solar Energy S t o r a g e

W(thin the Absorption Cyc/e. Paper delivered to theASME meeting in New York, November 1974

4‘M Semmers, et al , L/quid Refrigerant Storage inA b s o r p t i o n Air-Conclitioning. Paper delivered toASME meeting In New York, November 1974

“E H Perry, “The Theoretical Performance of theL i th ium-Brom ide-Water Intermit tent AbsorptionRefrlgeratlon Cycle, ” Solar Energy 17 (5), November1975, p 321

also been proposed that a device similar inoperation to an absorption air-conditionercould be used to provide heat from suchstorage, using an “absorption heat pump.”43

All such systems would require three storagetanks: one for the concentrated solution,one for water, and one for the dilute solu-tion. The storage would not require insula-tion.

It is believed that approximately 65 Btu/-pound of LiBr) could be stored in a systemwhich uses sunlight to distill a solution of 66percent LiBr to 54 percent.44 A major draw-back of using LiBr is the high cost of the ma-terial, but further study may reveal otherless expensive salts with acceptable prop-erties.

SALT STORAGE FOR OSMOTIC PRESSURE ENGINES

E n e r g y c a n b e g e n e r a t e d f r o m t h e o s -

motic pressure developed between salt solu-tions and freshwater. A system based on thisprinciple is illustrated in figure Xl-9. Theconcentrated saline solutions produced foruse in such equipment can be stored in unin-sulated tanks which can be quite inexpen-sive. A cubic meter of a salt solution com-parable to water from the Dead Sea (27 per-cent salt by weight) can produce 1 to 2½kWh in a reverse osmosis engine. ” FigureXl-5 indicates that large tanks can be pur-chased for less than $20/m3, and thereforebrine storage can be achieved for about $ 8to $20/kWh (or more if storage must also beprovided for the freshwater distilled fromsolution). The use of covered ponds couldresult in substantially lower storage costs.

SALT SOLUTIONS FOR ENGINESUSING LATENT HEAT OF MIXING

Engines can be operated from the latentheat released when concentrated solutions

‘] Letter from Dr. Gary Vllet (University of Texas,Austin) to Dr Albert R Landgrebe (ERDA), jan. 5,1975

44Cary Vliet, ibid,4 5S Loeb, et al,, “Production of Energy from Con-

centrated Brines by Pressure Reduced Osmosis: I I Ex-perimental Results and Projected Energy Costs, ” jour-na/ of Membrane Science, (1), p. 264(1 976)

446 “ Solar Technology to Today’s Energy Needs

Figure X1-9.—Osmotic Pressure Engine

High Pressure PumpSOUROE: OTA.

of some types of salt are mixed with water(see figure XI-10). Energy is released whenwater is introduced and aqueous solutionsare formed. ’b A study of this effect hasestimated that if energy is stored in the formof dry NaOH, the density of the energystored is 135 kWh/m3, and if energy is storedin the form of dry ZnCi2, CaCl2, MgCl2, LiBr,and LiCl, the energy storage density is about80 kWh/m3.

CHEMICAL REACTIONS

There is growing interest in the possibilityof storing energy for low-temperature ap-plications in chemical form, but work is in avery preliminary stage and no practicalsystems have yet emerged. ” 46 A recent ex-

“N. isshiki, et al., “Energy Conversion and Storageby CDE (Concentration Difference Energy) Engine andSystem, ” Proceedings, the 12th Intersociety EnergyConversion Engineering Conference, Washington,DC., Aug. 28-Sept. 2, 1977 (American Nuclear Society,La Grange Park, ill.), page 1117.

“G S. Hammond, “High Energy Materials byCharge Transfer and Other Photochemical Reac-tions, ” ACS 122r7d Meeting, San Francisco, Cal if., Sep-tember 1976.

48S. C. Talbert, et al., “Photochemical Solar Heatingand Cool ing,” Cherntech, February 1976, p. 122.

ploratory survey indicated that photochemi-cal reactions can be competitive with otherlow-temperature thermal storage systems ifthey are capable of 25-percent conversionefficiency and energy storage at more than158 Btu/Ib. (88 cal/g), or 40-percent efficien-cy and 81 Btu/lb. (45 cal/g).

One of the few low-temperature reactionswhich has been studied involves the use ofmetal hydrides. The reactions are of thegeneral form M + (x/2)H 2 ~ MHX, where Mis a metal or alloy such as LaNi5, SmCo5, orFeTi. These materials are capable of storingbetween 45 and 92 Btu per pound of hydride(0.029 to 0.059 kWht/kg), if storage temper-ature is heId at 2000 F and initial hydridetemperature is 700 oF.49

Energy is stored when the hydride isheated, releasing the gas, and recoveredwhen hydrogen recombines with the metal.Recent investigations at the Argonne Na-

4’G. G. Libowitz, “Metal Hydrides for ThermalEnergy Storage, ” Proceedings, the 9th IntersocietyEnergy Conversion Engineering Conference, San Fran-cisco, Cal if., Aug. 26-30, 1975, p. 324 (Quoted inSegaser, pp. 37-38.)

Ch Xl Energy Storage 447

Figure Xl-10.— Heat of Mixing Engine

To ProcessLoads 1

1 ~i-lot Water Storage

Condenser

Mixing Heat

rChamber Engine

To

SOURCE OTA.

tional Laboratory have demonstrated thefeasibi l i ty of hydride storage for bothheating and cooling applications ‘0

The possible costs of several of the low-temperature thermal storage systems dis-cussed in the previous sections are summar-ized in figure Xl-11. The techniques used tocompute these costs are explained in appen-dix XI-B,

THERMAL STORAGE AT INTERMEDIATEAND HIGH TEMPERATURES

Table Xl-3 lists the properties of some ofthe materials which can be used to storethermal energy at high temperatures. Rockstorage was treated in the previous section.The following discussion examines sensibleheat storage in refractory bricks, iron ingots,and hot oils.

‘“James H Swisher, Director of the Dlvlslon ofEnergy Storage Sy5tems, Of flee of Conservation,ERDA, letter to OTA dated Mar 30, 1977

Refractory Bricks

Devices capable of storing energy in mag-nesium oxide bricks at temperatures up to600 oC (1 ,1120 F) have been commerciallya v a i l a b l e in England and Western Europef o r m a n y y e a r s ; t h e o r i g i n a l p a t e n t s d a t e

back to 1928. They are in buildings so thatcustomers can charge the storage from therelatively inexpensive electricity availablein these areas at night; during the d a y ,homes and offices can be heated from thesystems in the same way that a baseboardresistance heater would be used. In 1973,both Great Britain and West Germany hadinstalled enough such devices to providenearly 150,000 MWh of storage capacitys1 52

for leveling the loads placed on their elec-tric utilities. Devices such as the one shownin figure Xl-12 are beginning to appear onthe U.S. market in areas where t ime-of-day

5 IGunter Mohr, Electric Storage H e a t e r s , A E C-Telefunken Progress, (1970), 1, p 30-39

52) G Ashbury and A. Kouvalls, E/ectric S t o r a g eHeat/rrg: The Experience in Eng/and and Wales and ~nthe Federa/ Repub/lc of Germany, ANL,’E S-50(1976)


Figure Xl-11 .— Low-Temperature Thermal Storage Cost per kWht

Versus Storage Capacity

200

100

50

20

.20

.10

0.05

100

Single Tank Storage—“- MultlpleTank Storage . ‘

t‘, ,

1000 104

Storage capacity (kWht)

10’

NOTE:The storage untts would lose only about 5 percent of the energystored In the Interval Indicated. This cost IS based on precastconcrete and coated steel, and excludes 25 percent O&P


Table Xl-3.—Candidate High-Temperature Thermal-Energy Storage MaterialsWithout Phase Change

Sensible-heat storage between 77° F and 900° F

Density Price (1971 $) outputMaterial ( lb/ f t 3) Btu/lb B t u / f t 3 ($/100 lb) (Btu/$)

Al . . . . . . . . . . 168 200 34,000 29.00 690A 12( S 04) 3 . . . 169 202 34,000 3.11 6,500Al 20 3 , . . . . . . 250 200 50,000 2.20 9,100CaCl 2 . . . . . . . 135 135 18,000 2.20 6,000MgO . . . . . . . . 223 208 46,000 2.80 7,400KCI . . . . . . . . . 124 140 17,400 1.65 8,500K 2SO 4 . . . . . . 167 180 30,000 1.10 16,400Na 2CO 3 . . . . . 160 265 42,500 4.00 6,600NaCl . . . . . . . . 136 180 24,500 1.33 13,500Na 2SO 4 . . . . . 168 247 41,500 1.50 16,400

Cast Iron . . . . 484 102 49,500 10.00 1,000Rocks . . . . . . . 140 160 22,500 1.00 16,000

SOURCE M Allrnan, et al @rrSe~at~Ofl a~~ ~~~er u~lllza~lo~ of ~~ectrlc power ~Y Means Of ~~er~al .Emrgy Storage andso/ar ~eatln~, Phase I .Su~~arY ~eport, NSF G127976, Unlverslty of Pennsylvania National Center for EnerqyManagement~nd Power, Oct 1, 1971, pp. 2-10

rates have been introduced. The unitstypicalIy sell for $20 to $40/kWh. 53

Some thought has been given to usingthese bricks to provide high-temperaturestorage for a solar-powered gas turbine sys-tem. I n one proposal, helium from a receiv-ing tower would be passed through a pres-sure vessel containing refractory bricks,heating the bricks to about 530oC (986 0 F). Itis estimated that such a device could beconstructed for $11 to $14/kWht. 54

Steel Ingot Storage

A system for using steel or cast-iron ingotsto store high-temperature energy for use in asteam electric-generating plant has beenproposed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL). 55 56 This device, illustrated in figureXl-1 3, consists of an assembly of pipes withrectangular external cross sections. Super-

5’) G Ashbury, et al., “Commercial Feasibility ofThermal Storage in Buildings for Utility Load Level-I ng, ” presented to the American Power Conference,Apr 18-20,1977, Chicago, Ill.

“W D Beverly, et al , “1 ntegration of High Temper-ature Thermal Energy Storage into a Solar ThermalBrayton Cycle Power Plant, ” 12 IECEC Conference, p1195

‘% Beverly, op clt , p 1199

heated steam is passed through the pipes forcharging and discharging. It should also bepossible to maintain a significant tempera-ture gradient along the length of the storageunit for several days (see appendix Xl-B). Thepredicted performance of a large device isillustrated in figure XI-14. Like the MgO(magnesium-oxide) storage system, this de-vice has the advantage of great simplicity, ithas virtually nothing to wear out, no heat ex-changers to clog, and no scarce or toxic ma-terials are required. It has an advantage overthe brick storage system in that a pressurevessel is not required to contain the heat-transfer fluid —the steel pipes provide theneeded containment. For this reason, thecost should be slightly less expensive p e runit of energy stored. 57

It should be possible to build a steel ingotstorage system with relatively Iittle develop-

56program Review, cC3fT)pari3tivt2 Assessment of ~r-

bita/ and Terrestrial/ Central Power Systems, OCtober

1975- January 1976, jPL, p 16“R H Turner, j PL, “Thermal Energy Storage Using

Large Hollow Steel Ingots, ” Sharing the Sun: SolarTechno logy in the Seventies, jo in t Conference,American Section, International Solar Energy Societyand Solar Energy Society of Canada, I nc , Winnipeg,Canada, Aug. 15-20, 1976, Vol 8, pp. 155-162.


Figure XI-12.—A High-Temperature ThermalStorage Device Designed for Residential Use

A storage/heating unit installed in a home

high density mineral woolthermal Insulation heat storage core

finishcabinmetal

warm a l r o

# of magnesite br icks

heatingelements (made

of 80% Nickel/20°& Chromiummounted onceramic supports)

Figure Xl-13.— Steel-Ingot, Sensible-HeatStorage System

Return to solar collectorduring charging; return from

load during discharge

I - Distribution piping

Input from solar collectorduring charging; input to

load during discharge,. . . ./ I (nole diameters not to scale)

u t

quiet, low energy, squirrel cage fan(actuated by room thermostat)

An interior view of the unit showing themagnesium bricks, heating elements and airb lower

SOURCE Control Electric Corporation Burlington, VT

ment work since most of the properties ofthe system can be computed with consider-able precision. Since the system uses high--pressure steam, considerable care must betaken if it is used in onsite applications, butexisting boiler codes should be able to en-sure adequate safety. Lower pressures canbe employed if the system uses a heat-transfer fIuid other than steam.

Figure Xl-1 4 .—Steel-Ingot Temperature Profiles atVarious Times in a Typical Cycle

950°F Fully charged system temperature\

\ \

I \\ \

Ingot system length(Steam path is many ingots long)

SOURCE:R. H. Turner (JPL), “Thermal Energy Storage Using Large HollowSteel Ingots,” Sharing the Sun: Solar Technoloav in theSeventies.

“.

Joint Conference, American SectIon, International Solar EnergySociety and Solar Energy Society of Canada, Inc. Winnipeg,Canada, Aug. 15-20, 1976, Volume 8, page 160.


It may be possible to reduce the cost ofthe system by replacing some of the volumeof metal with concrete. Concrete costsabout a third as much as steel and couldeasily be formed around a matrix of sepa-rate steel pipes. The practical difficulties ofconstructing such a system have not beenevaluated, however, The performance of thesystem could be degraded significantly ifthe concrete separated from the steel tubes;this may create problems even though con-crete and steel have nearly the same coeffi-cients of expansion. Another diff icultywould be the relatively poor heat transferbetween concrete and steel. Concrete itselfhas low conductivity, and cracks could fur-ther reduce its conductivity.

Heat-Transfer Oil Thermal Storage

Some of the sensible-heat storage systemsutiIize a mixture of rocks and a heat-transferfluid such as Therminol. The properties ofsome common commercial heat-transfer liq-u ids are Iisted in table Xl-4. Sandia Labora-tories in Albuquerque chose a system usingTherminol-66 and rocks for storing energy inits total energy system. This system, shownin figure Xl-1 5, has been operated success-fully since early 1976. A mixture of CaloriaHT43 and granite rock storage was chosenby McDonnell-Douglas for storing energygenerated by their central receiver design.Martin-Marietta chose to use a sensible-heatstorage system with two stages — a high-tem-perature stage for superheat ing, usingHITEC as the storage medium, and a low-temperature stage using a heat-transfer oil.Each stage has two tanks for high perform-ance.

All heat-transfer oils share a common setof problems. They all degrade with time,and their degradation is increased rapidly ifthey are operated above their recommendedtemperature Iimits for any length of time.This degradation requires a filtering systemand means that the relatively expensive oilsmust be continualIy replaced. The oils alsocan present safety problems, since they canbe ignited by open flames at temperatures inthe range of 3000 F (fire point) and have a

high enough vapor pressure to sustain com-bustion at temperatures in the range of 600 c

to 1,0000 F (ignition temperature), Thismeans that great care must be taken to en-sure that the material is not overheated,Dikes will be needed to prevent the materialfrom spreading if a leak should occur. Somesystems require an inert gas (such as nitro-gen) over the liquids in the tanks to inhibitreactions which might degrade the storagematerial. The behavior of the rock-oil mix-tures over long periods of time remains anopen question, since little experimentalevidence is avaiIable. The rocks may tend tocrack, and the apertures between them mayclog with degraded oil.

Refined Fuel Oil Thermal Storage

A thermal storage system proposed byEXXON eliminates the problems of degrada-tion and clogging by using a relatively inex-pensive fuel oil without rocks.58 This systemuses specially refined oil that does not de-grade with time, but it can only be used atup to 530° F (277 ‘C). The oil is estimated tocost $146/m 3 (installed, excluding operationsand maintenance) and, if necessary, can beused as fuel at any time.59 Its specific heat is0.795 kWh~Jm3“C.bo

An EPRI study estimates the installed costof insulated tankage, including an inert gassystem to exclude oxygen, to be $91/m 3 o foil for a two-tank system. Oil handling facili-ties, such as pumps, piping, and heat ex-changers, are power related, rather thanenergy related, and cost $288 per installedk wth of capacity .61

“An A s s e s s m e n t o f E n e r g y S t o r a g e System5

Suitable for Use by Electric Utii[tles, EM-264, EPRIProject 225. ERDA E (11-1} 2501, Final ReportPrepared by Public Service E Iectrlc and Gas Com-pany, Newark, NJ

“lbld , pp 4-40‘“ibid , pp 3-48“ Ibid , pp 4-41 Converted from $144 kWe using O 4

kWe kWth and 1 25 O&P factor


Table Xl-4.—Commercial Organic and Inorganic Heat-Transfer Agents

Refined fuelTherminol- Therminol- Caloria-HT- Dowtherm- Humble- oi lb

5 5a 6 65 4 35 A 5

therm 5005 HITEC 5 (see text)

Dow E. 1.Producer M o n s a n t o c M o n s a n t o c EXXONC Chemical d Humble Oil Dupont EXXON C

Highest usable temp(“C) = Tmax . . . . . .

Lowest usable temp:(°F) . . . . . . . . . . .(“c). . . . . . . . . . .(°F) . . . . . . . . . . .

Fire point (°C) . . . . . .Autoignition temp(° C)

Specific heat (Btu/lboF)3 (or cal/gm°C) . .

Viscosity (lb/ft-hr)e .Thermal conductivity

(Btu/hr-ft° F e . . . . .Density (lb/ft3)e . . . .Heat capacity (Btu/

ft3° F)e . . . . . . . . . . .

Cost ($/lb) . . . . . . . . .cost ($/ft3 ). . . . . . . . .Mil ls/Btu (assuming

AT = Tm a x- 5 00C a n dperfect thermal gra-dient). . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mil ls/Btu (assumingcomplete mixing andal lowing T max to fallto (Tm a x/2) + 25” C)

316

601-18

210354

0.721.1

0.06543

31

0.3816.34

1.1

2.2

343

649-4

193374

0.6550.649

0.061250

32.8

0.8140.50

2.3

4.6

316

601—

—404

——

—

0.26

S.2 f

6.4

260

500-11

135621

0.5370.65

0.064553

28.5

0.7137.63

3.5

7.0

a @mPlfed by Hoffman (ORNL) and Tas Bramlette (Sand la, Llvermore)

b Energy in 011,” IEEE Power Englneenng Soc(ety Summer Meeting, Portland, Oreg., July 1976

c Requires nonoxldlzlng cover gas

d Requires pressurization for temperatures above 260”C

e Propefly at maximum usable temperature.

fAT = Tmax – 83°C

g AT = Tmax – 150”C

h AT max falls to (Tmax/2) + 75°C

316

601-21

246—

0.71651.01

0.065541.3

29.6

500

932142288

——

0.4

112

44.8

0.2528.00g

277

531—

——

0.70—

0.68—

38.21

4.13

0.99 0.26

2,0h

0.53


At least one design for such a hot-oilenergy storage system for use with a 1,000M We nuclear powerplant has already beencompleted, and the EPRI study classifies thistechnique as “a near-term solution with cer-tain economic advantages over other stor-age systems.”62

Latent-Heat Systems

Heat-of-fusion systems using inorganicsalt mixtures have a distinct advantage forstoring energy at high temperatures, sincethey can reduce storage volumes and pro-vide more energy at constant temperatures.The major disadvantages have been thecosts of the materials required and the prob-lem of developing adequate heat transferbetween the storage material and the work-ing flu id. Two designs which have been usedin devices designed to store energy for spaceconditioning are illustrated in figures Xl-16and Xl-17, The Comstock and Wescott de-sign uses relatively inexpensive materials:NaOH mixed with corrosion inhibitors. Theunit shown consists of six moduIes contain-ing sodium hydroxide which was heatedwith electricity. The unit has been rede-signed to use steel pipes rather than thepanels shown. 63 64 65 A similar approach hasbeen proposed by JPL for use in a centralstation powerplant. I n their approach, abundle of tubes is imbedded in a long cylin-drical tank (in the central station design, thetanks were 60 feet long and 12 feet indiameter) filled with sodium hydroxide. Thesteam or other heat-transfer Iiquid is sentthrough the tubes to extract or to supplyenergy to the storage medium. The tubes

‘Zlbld , pp 3-51 The completed study IS referencedas R P Cahn and E W N Icholson, Storage of Off-Peak Therma/ Energy In 0;/, Approved by I E E E PowerGeneral Committee, Paper No A76 326-9 Summer1976

“Comstock and Wescott, Inc., “First Step of HeatStorage Research Actlv[ty of Heat Storage Systems, ”EE/ L3u//, June 1959

“Comstock and Wescott, Inc , “Promlslng H e a tStorage Material Found Through Research, ” E.E/ Bu//.,February 1962, p 49

“R H Turner (J PL), private communication, June 9,1976

must be closely spaced to permit acceptablerates of heat transfer since sodium hydrox-ide has a relatively small heat conductivity.JPL estimated that such a system could store52 MWh t if the temperature swing were be-tween 6500 and 4000 F and would costabout $13/kWht.Gs A major problem withthese systems is that the highly corrosivenature of NaOH (lye) demands expensivecontainment to prevent leaks.

The Philips Corporation has investigated anumber of materials for possible use in aphase-change storage system. Lithium fluo-ride has received the most attention be-cause of its extremely large latent heat of fu-sion, but other less expensive materials havealso been examined for use in the Philipsdesign. ” Other fluoride compounds, for ex-ample, have extremely large latent heats.

The properties of a variety of salt com-pounds which might be considered for use inphase-change storage systems are illustratedin table X I-5 and their thermodynamic be-havior is illustrated graphically in figureXl-1 8. It can be seen that the sodium hydrox-ide material appears to have an advantagein the temperature regime appropriate toconventional Rankine cycle systems, whilefluoride compounds (such as the NaF/MgF2

mixture) appear to have an advantage whenused in connection with engines operatingat very high temperatures such as Brayton orStirling cycle devices.

In general, the nitrates and nitrites arerelatively inexpensive and do not corrodetheir containment vessels, but they tend todecompose at temperatures above 4000 to500 “C. The hydroxide eutectics can operateat high temperatures, but become corrosiveand thus require corrosion-resistant alloys.Carbonates have good thermophysical prop-erties, but also decompose at high tempera-tures unless a cover gas of CO2 is used in thetanks. Chlorides and fluorides have high spe-cific heats, conductivities, and latent heats,

“R H Turner (J PL), private communlcatlon, June 9,1976

“j Schroder (N.V Philips Aachen Lab ) , Therrna/Energy Storage, N V Phlllps publication


Figure Xl-15.— The High-Temperature Heat Storage System at the Sandia Total Energy Experiment

— A-

photograph by John Furber

Figure Xl-16.– Design of “Therm-Bank” Space Heater

Heater terminale\ Inner tank cover

90URCER E Rk., rrwn.l Smmp APPIIc@On W EnwvY ConsewMIII Comwoch md Wssc.11, Inc AD.(. 1975 Rwrlntad mtimbl~. *I 4, SAN07$iMb2 P8C942


SOURCE N V Phlllps


Table XI.5.—Properties of Latent-Heat Thermal Storage Materials

Storage material NaF/MgF 2 LiF/NaF/MgF 2

(mole %) NaOH (75/25) B2O3 46/ 44/ 10 NaN03 Lif

Melting point ‘C. . . . . . . 320a 832b‘F. ., . 608 1530

Density at m.p. (kg/m3) . 1784 2190b(most bulky phase)* . . . . (Iiq) (Iiq)

Heat of fusion ( A HPC). 0.0442c 0.174b(kWh/kg) ., . . . . . . . . . 0.0442**

Specific heat at m. p. 5.89 x 10-4a 4.1 x 1O-4*••sol id (Cp) (kWh / kgoC) (below 295° C)——

(above 295” C)Specific heat at m .p.,

liquid (Cp) (kWh /kg° C) 5.75 x 10-4C 4.07 x 10-4e

Heat capacity (m. p,-50° Cto m,p. + 50” C) (kWh/m 3 ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * 262 471

0.55f 1,10-0.55g983 2400-1200

Material cost ($/ kWh ca-pacity) (m. p. -50” C tom.p. + 50° C) ., ., 3.75 5.10-2.55

450c 632d842 1170

1571 c 2105d(Iiq) (Iiq)

0.092d 0.226(e)

4.48 X 1 0-4d 4.88 X 10-4

(e)

5.09 X 1 0-4d 4.88X 10 -4*••

205 5780.20 2.20312 4641

1.52 8,02

31Oc5901916c

(Iiq)

0.0481(c)

5.06 X 10-4

● ☛☛

5.058 X 10-4

(c)

1890.571098

5.81

845c1553

1829c(Iiq)

0.290(c)

6.69 X 10-4

(d)

6.94 X 10-4

(c)

6555.56h10,161

1551

. Volume of storage conta[ner must be large enough to accommodate most bu Iky phase

. . Solld/solld phase change at 295° C (563° F)

. . . Estimate based on speclf[c heat of other phase

aKubaschewskl, O , e t a l (Nat iona l Phys ica l Labora tory , Mlddlesex), Metallurgical Thermochemistry F o u r t h E d Pergamon PressLtd , 1967

bschroder, J (N V Phlllps A a c h e n L a b ) , “Thermal Energy Storage Using Fluorldes of Alkall and Alkallne Earth Metal s,’ Proceed/rigsof fhe Symposium on Energy Storage The Electrochemical Soctety, Inc , 1976

cJanz, G J (Rensselaer Polytechn IC Institute), Mo/(en Sa/ts Handbook Academic Press I nc , 1967

dw{cks, c E and F E Block ( U S B u r e a u o f M i n e s ) , Therrnodynarn(c Proper t ies of 65 E/ernents — The/r Ox/ales, Ha//ales, Carb/ijesand Nlfrldes BuI Iettn 605, Bureau of Mines, 19(j3

eschroder, J ( N v Phlllps Aachen Lab), private communication, Jan 13, 1977.

fchem(cal Mar~e(l~g Reporter VOI 210, No 10, Sept 6, 1976 100 lb drums of U S PharmacoPla NaOH In truckload quant i t ies9$0 !jsl kg IS a cost estlnlate made by N V Pfllllps, based on (he use of waste rnaterlals from fertilizer rnartufacturlng present cost IS $1 1 (J / kg

hLltfllum C o r p o r a t i o n o f America quotatton, SerX 15, 1976, for 99 5 ° 0 LIF in lots greater than 5 tons This material IS proposed for useIn Phil Ips space heat storage system

m p — melt ng point(Ilq)— hqu[d phase

but tend to be higher in cost and can havecorrosive properties. Phosphates and sul-fates are very corrosive.

If the latent-heat storage system can belocated very close to the collectors, it maybe possible to use a heat-pipe system to con-vey the energy from a collector to storage.Extensive surfaces would have to be affixedto the heat pipes to produce sufficient heat-transfer surface area in the storage medium.This may be feasible since the latent-heat

systems are capable of storing a largeamount of energy per unit weight. The stor-age could be mounted directly on a trackingdish, or it could be physically close to anengine mounted at the top of a tower.

Heat pipes operate most effectively iftheir working fluids have pressures in therange of 1 to 10 atmospheres. Both sodiumand potassium have these pressures in tem-perature ranges of 6000 to 1,000 “C. Thetechnology of sodium-vapor heat pipes has


00

.05

.10

.15

.20

.25

.30

.35

.40

.45

.50

.55

.60

0

Figure Xl-18.—Thermodynamic Behavior ofCandidate Latent-Heat Storage Salts

Temperature of storage (°C)

100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

of heat engines

Organic rankine enginesI

100 200 300 400

SOURCE Table Xl 7

been thoroughly investigated, and pipesmade of relatively low-cost “type-304” stain-less steel are predicted to have lifetimes of10,000 hours. ” ‘9 This lifetime correspondsto only a little more than a year of contin-uous operation for a generating system, andfurther improvements are needed if an ac-

‘8G A A Asselman, et al , “Heat Pipes, ” PhilipsTech. Review, Vol 33, No 4 (1970), p 104

“C A A Asselman, et al , “Hea~ Pipes, ” PhI/ipsTech l?e~ Iew, Vol 33, No 5 (1970), p 168

I Gas turbinesJ \

500 600 700 800 900 ‘c

ceptable generating system is to be de-signed. Such improvements are expected,but design research and much more operat-ing experience is needed.

A Philips design employing a heat-pipeand a phase-change storage system is illus-trated in figure Xl-19. When the storage isbeing “charged,” the liquid sodium flows tothe collector where it is vaporized and re-turns as a gas to the storage vessels. (EIectricpumps for moving sodium without moving


Figure Xl-19.— Use of a Sodium Heat PipeWith a Latent-Heat High-Temperature Thermal

Storage System

operator, and they do not appear to presentany serious safety problems. Release of the.sodium from the system could be hazard-ous, but only very small amounts of sodiumare required in the system per-unit-of-poweroutput.

Unfortunately, there remains a substan-tial amount of disagreement about the per-formance capabilities of phase-change sys-

Heat from solar collectorsSOURCE: Drawn by OTA using N. V. Philips concept,

parts have been developed by the breederreactor program. ) The vapor condenses onthe storage containers, giving the energy ofvaporization gained at the collector and thecycle begins again. When the system is be-ing discharged, the vapor is generated by thestorage vessels and condensed in a heat ex-changer sending energy to a heat engine. Ifauxiliary power is needed to supplement thesolar energy, a separate heat exchanger canbe built into the heat-pipe loop to permitrunning the engine from fossiI fuels.

If these low-pressure sodium or potassiumheat-pipe systems could be developed, theywould be very attractive. They should notrequire extensive maintenance or a trained

exchangers, average cycle efficiency corro-sion resistance, and development of low-cost materials have been resolved .’” On theother hand, others are still having substan-tial development problems and feel that aconsiderable amount of fundamental devel-opment work is needed. Only more researchand the fabr icat ion and test ing of realdevices will resolve these debates.

Environmental Concerns

The environmental problems associatedwith the use of high-temperature thermalstorage devices have not been explored indetail, although a preliminary survey of theissues has been conducted. 71

Some of the oils proposed for use as heattransfer fluids or as storage materials can beexplosive. Care will have to be exercised inthe construction and operation of these sys-tems, particularly if they are integrated intosystems close to populated areas. Most oilstorage tanks must be covered with an inertgas such as nitrogen to minimize the risk ofexplosion when the oil is heated. Leakingtanks could result in fires; earthen dikes ordams would be required around large tanksbuilt above the ground. The risk would be re-duced if underground storage were used.Care would also be essential when the ther-

70). Schroder (N V Phlilps Aachen Lab ), privatecommunication, jan 13, 1977

“john G. Holmes, “Environmental and Safety im-plications of Solar Technologies” Proceedings, the1977 annual meeting of the American Section of theInternational Solar Energy Society, p, 28-5


ma storage materials are discarded after asystem is dismantled or when fluids are re-placed if they have been damaged or de-graded with repeated thermal cycles. Theoils would typically be dumped into citysewage systems.

THERMOCHEMICAL STORAGE

Background

Recent interest in thermochemical reac-tions for storing energy has been motivatedprimarily by a desire to find a way to storeand transport energy generated by nuclearp l a n t s .72 73 Like the heat of fusion storagesystems, chemical storage has the advan-tage of being able to produce heat at con-stant temperature. It has the additional ad-vantage of not requiring insulated storagetanks. Some chemical systems could allowstorage densities many times higher thanany other types of thermal storage. A varietyof reactions have been examined, and thereappears to be no technical barriers to usinga number of them in connection with solarcolIectors.

The problems remaining involve both theneed to understand much more about thefundamental chemistry of some simple reac-tions which have never been examined i ndetail, and the engineering details of con-verting laboratory reactions into reliablecommercial products It is also possible touse the energy stored in chemical reactionsto transport energy from colIectors to a stor-age vessel The “Solchem” process, for ex-ample, being examined by the Naval Re-search Laboratory, uses the SO3/ S O2 reac-

7ZR schu Iten, et al , The Concept of N’uclear Hvdro-gen Production and Progress of Woolf in the Nuc/earResearch Center )uellch, paper presented at the 1 StWorld Hydrogen Conference, Mlaml Beach, Fla , Mar1-3, 1976

‘ ) Jon B Pangborn, “ }iydrogen Energy Technology-Update 1976,” In Energy Technology I I I proceedingsof t h e t h i r d e n e r g y technology conference,Washington, D C , 1976, p 1972

tion to transfer heat to a latent-heat storagesystem. 74

Developing procedures which wi l l beuseful for onsite applications may be dif-ficult, since many of the reactions being ex-amined are quite complex. Frequently, thereaction in the collector is simpler to controlthan the reverse reaction, In this case, aseries of distributed onsite collectors couldbe used to feed a common collection pipenetwork which operates an electric-gener-ating device at a central facility, I f hydrogenor other easily reacted materials are pro-duced, the storage products could be usedeasily in onsite facilities without trainedoperators.

The basic chemical cycle employed isshown in figure XI-20. A chemical (labeled“A” in the diagram) is preheated in a coun-terflow heat exchanger and sent into the col-lector where it is separated into products(“B” and “C” in the diagram) through achemical reaction. The heated-reactionproducts are cooled to ambient tempera-tures in the heat exchanger. If the reactionrequires a catalyst in the solar collector, itmay be possible to store the products at am-bient temperatures. If no catalyst is needed,it may be necessary to store each reactionproduct separately. The stored products canthen be piped to other sites where energy isneeded, When energy is to be extractedfrom the system, the reaction simply pro-ceeds backward at a lower temperature (IeChateler’s principle). In the diagram, “B”and “C” recombine to form “A “ If the o r ig-inal chemical (“A”) is valuable, it must then

b e p i p e d b a c k t o t h e c o l l e c t o r . I n s o m e

c a s e s , t h e r e a c t i o n m u s t p r o c e e d t h r o u g h

In a recent paper, W. E. Wentworth and E

Chen presented an elegant approach fo r

evaluating and comparing thermochemical

“ T A C h u b b , “A Chemical Approach to SolarEnergy, ” to be publlshed In Cherntech, 6, p 654, (Oc-tober 1976)


Figure Xl-20.— Typical ThermochemicalStorage Technique.

Collector

Energy Ifrom sun

Storage

L

A

Distribution

b # \ 4

Collection reaction User-site reaction

reactions. Their work provides the basis forthe analysis which follows. 75

The basic measures of merit for a ther-mochemical reaction are: 76

“w. E. Wentworth and E. Chen, “Simple ThermalDecomposition Reactions for Storage of Solar Ther-mal Energy, ” Solar Energy 18(3), 1976, p. 205.

“I bid,, p. 208,

1

to

J

The reaction should be nearly completewithin the temperature range of avail-able collectors. (In practical terms, itwould be desirable to have 95 percentcompleteness at temperatures below1,000oC.)

2. The reverse reaction should be nearlycomplete at the temperature at whichuseful energy is to be extracted. (If thereaction is to be used in connection

Ch. X/ Energy Storage 461

3

4.

5.

6.

7,

8

9

w i t h- a conventional powerplant, thistemperature would be approximately500 “C; if a Stirling cycle or Brayton cy-cle device were to be used, the tem-perature should be closer to 800 “C.).

The reversible reaction should be ableto release energy for the user at temper-atures close to those supplied by thecollector. (The collector temperatureshould be as low as possible to mini-mize material problems and to maxi-mize collection efficiency— in the fol-lowing discussion, i t wi l l be seen that

th is requirement will be met by reac-tions which involve large changes inentropy. )

The energy absorbed per-unit-volumeof the products stored should be aslarge as possible to minimize the vol-ume of storage. It would be most desir-able to be able to store the reactionproducts in liquid form. This wouldboth reduce storage costs and theenergy losses in pumping the storedmaterial.

The reaction should be completely re-versible and no side reactions shouldoccur to produce contaminants in aclosed-cycle system. These side reac-tions would tend to create productswhich would accumulate and eventual-ly poison the system.

Reactions should be fast.

None of the reactions involved shouldrequire extensive development of newchemical techniques. They should notrequire expensive or elaborate equip-ment. This is of paramount importancefor onsite equipment not operated bytrained personnel.

The reaction products should not reactstrongly with water or oxygen, since itwould be difficult to seal the systemagainst these materials.

The materials used should be inexpen-sive and should not require chemicalsfor which shortages are likely to de-velop.

Design Alternatives

Most of the thermochemical reactionswhich are now being examined for use inconnection with high-temperature storagesystems require fairly sophisticated reactionapparatus which must be maintained bytrained personnel. As a result, these thermo-chemical systems will be limited to rela-tively large onsite systems, such as shoppingcenters, industries, and communities. Re-search may develop reactions which do notrequire such attention and the equipmentneeded for existing systems may be simpli-fied, but much more development work isneeded before assessment of this issue canbe made.

METHANE–STEAM

A variety of reactions have been proposedfor use in larger systems, and some of them

are summarized in table Xl-6. The reactionwhich has probably received the most re-

cent at tent ion is the methane/syn-gas reac-t i o n . T h e m e t h a n e r e a c t i o n p r o b a b l y r e -

quires the least development since the tech-nology required for each step of the storageprocess is commercially available and thechemistry is well understood.

The Ralph M. Parsons Company, for ex-ample, has operated a device for convertinghydrogen and carbon monoxide to methanefor 3 years, producing nearly a million ft3/ -day of methane. The equipment was de-signed as a part of a synthetic fuel plant,where the first step would be partial com-bustion of coal to produce the “syn-gas”combination of H2 and CO, and the secondphase would use the Parsons’ “methana-tion” process. 77

One potential difficulty of the methane/steam process for onsite application is thedifficulty of controlling the reaction. Thethermal output from the reaction which gen-crates heat can be throttled down to about50-percent peak capacity without major dif-

“Charles Luttman (Ralph M Parsons Co.), privatecommunication, Aug. 6, 1976.


Table X1-6.—Candidate Chemical-Energy Storage Reactions———

Reaction

Energy stored Cost ofTemperature per unit mass stor-

of reaction Temperature of (VOI. ) of storagein colIector ● user react ion ● age material mate-

o C o Fn T o C “F rial Comments

Btu/lb kcal/liter $/kWh—

780 1,440 0.94 1,130 2,792 50610

589

590

435

335

390

1,150 601,090 532 110

850 512

635 446 740

740 567 470

0.16

1.1

0.62

0.07

Products of the storagereaction are gases and thusV Olume IS large. Gas mustbe stored under pressure.Reactions are well known.Nickel catalyst required. CO+ 3H2 CH 4 + H20 IS amethanation reaction.

Products stored as gas

Cost includes system costS 02 stored as liquid, 02 asgas,

. See text for explanation of terms In the anal ysls of “temperature effl[ IPII y Tc = 100‘ F has been used

SOURCES W E Wentworth and E Chen, “Simple Thermal Decomposlt [on React Ions for Storage of Solar Thermal Energy, Sular Energy18(3), 1976

T T Bramlette (Sandla L a b o r a t o r i e s , Llvermore), Survey of High- Temperature Thermal Energy Storage SAN D75-8063,March 1976, pp 83-94

R S Hockett and R W Serth, “High Temperature Thermal Energy Storage System, ” 721h IECEC Conference, (1977), pp 510

ficulty, but control beyond the So-percentreduction becomes difficult. Another majorproblem is the relatively low-energy densityof the gas which must be stored. The H2 +CO mixture holds approximately 60 Btu/ft 3

at atmospheric pressure, and methane holdsa p p r o x i m a t e l y 240 B t u / f t3. The price oftanks for storing the coal and gas mixturewiII dominate the cost of this type of stor-age. If large amounts of gas are to be storedand underground caverns or abandoned gasfields are available, underground storage isclearly the most inexpensive approach. A re-cent JPL study estimated that hydrogencould be stored in depleted gas fields andaquifers for about $1/1 ,000 SCF,* in dis-

‘The abbreviation “SCF” stands for standard cubicfeet If the gas IS stored under pressure, the volumewou Id be less th~n the “SCF”

solved salt caverns constructed for this pur-pose for about $3/1 ,000 SCF, and in minedcaverns for about $5.6/1 ,000 S C F .78 T h eenergy storage costs would thus range fromabout $17/106 Btu ($0.057/kWh t) of storagecapacity for gas field storage to about$93/10 6 Btu ($0.32/kWhtO for mined caverns.

These underground storage systemswould not be available in many sites, Theycould probably be used only in connectionwith a very large plant, and then only if ap-propriate geology could be located. Withcurrent technology, it would be necessary tostore the gas in pressurized tanks, In thefuture, it may be possible to store hydrogen

78 Toshlo Fujlta (j PL), Underground Energy Storagefor E/ectric Uti/i(les Ernp/eying Hydrogen Energy Sys-tems, June 1976, p VIII


in solid hydrides .79 A recent EPRI study in-dicated that hydrogen could be stored at 8 8atmospheres f o r a b o u t $ 0 . 5 0 / S C F80 ( o r$28/kWh t) in the syn-fuel storage system.

Major development problems which mustbe overcome for the methane/steam cycleinclude the design of high-temperature re-ceivers using nickel-base catalysts. The re-ceivers must be capable of operating for ex-tended periods with minimal maintenance.Another unresolved issue is the question ofthe extent to which the system will be stablewhen the load or solar influx changes sud-denly. There may also be difficulties withside reactions which wouId lead to the ac-cumulation of reaction products that wouldpoison the system. The seriousness of thesedifficulties and the cost of overcoming themcannot be determined without operationaltesting.

MULTISTAGE PROCESSES FORGENERATING HYDROGEN

A number of multistage processes havebeen suggested for generating hydrogen, butmost are cumbersome for onsite applica-tions and involve several different reactions,some of which require the addition of Iow-temperature “process heat” in addition tothe high-temperature processes. 8 ’ Two ad-vantages of these muItistage processes oversingle-stage hydrogen production are thatlower temperatures can be used and that thetwo gases are released separately at dif-ferent stages.

General Atomic Company, which in 1973developed a computer program to find thebest combination of chemical reactions thatcould form closed hydrogen-producing cy -

“G Strlck land and J J Reilly, Operat ing Manua/for the PSE&G H y d r o g e n Reser\oir C o n t a i n i n gTita rJIum Hycfrlcfe, Brook haven National [Lab ,February 1974

a’JUtJ/)zar)on ot C~ff-Peak Power to P r o d u c e /n-dustr/a/ Hydrogen, EPRI 320-1, Final Report, preparedby I nstltute of (;a~ Technology, August 1975

“M M E lsen~tadt and K E Cox, “ Hydrogen Pro-duction From SoJ~r [ nergy, ” So/ar [nergy, 1 7(1 ), 1975,p 59

cles, reported to ERDAthe following cycle the

last fall that it foundmost promising:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Two other high-temperature chemicalstorage cycles are being studied by Westing-house in the United States and KFA in WestGermany. In all three cycles, the primaryheat storage occurs in the dehydration andpyrolysis of H2S O4.

82 Several reactions havealso been proposed by Debini and Marchetti(using CaBR2 and HgBr2) Westinghouse (us-ing a hybrid sulfuric acid process), GeneralAtomics (using an iodine-sulfur dioxide cy-cle), Schulten (using a methanol-sulfuricacid process), the Lawrence Livermore Lab-oratory (using a zinc-selenium cycle), the In-stitute of Gas Technology (using iron chlo-ride), and others.83 A major problem with allof the reactions examined is low efficiencies(typically 20 to 40 percent). In many cases,the basic chemistry of the processes has notbeen well established.

In addition to the calcium-bromide proc-ess described above, reactions using cesium,tin, iodine-vanadium chloride, and iron chlo-ride-oxide have been proposed. The cal-cium-bromide reaction appears to be themost efficient, AlI require three or moreprocesses and considerable quantities ofprocess heat. 8485 The cost of such systems isextremely difficult to estimate at present.One preliminary study showed that a 47-per-cent efficient thermochemical-process plantfor converting solar-supplied heat into hy-drogen would cost $25 per kW of thermal in-

82Data provided by ERDA, Off Ice of Conservation8 ‘E isenstadt and Cox, op c It , A Techrroeconornjc

Analysis of Large-Scale Thermochemical Production ofHydrogen, (E PRI EM-287), December 1976, Pre//rm;nary

A5se55ment 0/ Econom/cs of H y d r o g e n ProcfuctlonFrom Lawrence Liverrnore Laboratory, ZnSe Thermo-cherr~lca/ Cyc/e, Un Ited E nglneers, September 1976

84R F Chao and K E Cox, “An Analysls of Hydro-gen Produc tlon vIa C Iosed Cycle Schemes, ” Pro-ceedings, THEME Conference, Mlaml Beach, Fla ,S13 1 -S1 32 (March 1974), cited In E Isenstadt and Cox

a5Pangborn, op cit , p 174


put capacity .8’ Converting this to 1976 dol-lars and removing the contractors overheadand profit, which will be added in later, thiscost is $26 per kW of thermal input capac-ity, or $57 per kw of hydrogen- productioncapacity. This cost does not include the costof hydrogen storage tanks, which would costa great deal. A big central system could pipethe hydrogen to gas customers in natural gaspipelines, or store it in depleted natural gaswells, but these options may not be avail-able to the small onsite units. I n addition,much work remains to be done on the sys-tems, however, and it seems that the chemis-try required will be too complex for any butthe largest “onsite” facilities being exam-ined in this study.

SULPHUR DIOXIDE/SULPHUR TRIOXIDE

Some of these difficulties associated withthe methane system can be avoided in theother simple chemical system which has re-ceived major interest—the

reaction. Its major advantage is that onlythe oxygen cannot be stored as a liquid atambient pressure and temperatures; this re-sults in a very substantial saving in the costof storing the material. The system has noside reactions, and it requires relativelysmall catalyst volumes.

Since the sulfur trioxide reaction reachescompletion at temperatures nearly 2000 Fhigher than the methane/steam system, a re-ceiver and reaction chamber must be madeout of ceramics or other material capable of

withstanding high temperatures. The devel-opment of such a receiver presents a majorproblem. The system would also require rel-atively large heat exchangers at both thecollector site and in the system for reactingthe sulfur dioxide to generate heat. Thisresults from the high molecular weight ofthe materials used and the necessity of con-densing the products in the heat exchangers.The sulfur system could also present corro-sion problems since corrosive acids wouldform if any water entered the system; thesafety problems associated with piping thematerials must also be examined.

Examining the chemicals in table Xl-6, itappears that one of the most attractive ma-terials for high-temperature storage wouldbe NH 4H S 04, since all of its reaction prod-ucts can be stored as Iiquids at ambient tem-perature and since its reaction temperaturesare not as high as those required for the S03

system .87 Work has begun on this and a va-riety of other reactions, and it is clear thatnot all possibilities have been explored.

The sulphur compounds used in this stor-age system could create environmental haz-ards if the equipment leaks or is not proper-ly maintained. Accumulations of sulfur-based gasses can be highly toxic and may beexplosive under the right conditions.

Summary

The costs of several of the high-tempera-ture thermal storage systems discussed inthis section are summarized in figure XI-21.

ELECTRIC STORAGE

All of the storage devices examined thusfar are designed to deliver heat which canbe either used directly to heat a building orfor some other purpose or to operate a heat

sw Hauz, et al,, Publication 72 TM P-1 5, GeneralElectrlc-TEMPO, Santa Barbara, Calif., April 1972,cited in E isenstadt and Cox.

engine. It is also possible to store the elec-tricity produced by heat-engine generatorsor photovoltaic devices. EIectricity can be“stored” directly in a loop of superconduct-ing (zero-resistance) wire, and although re-search is being conducted on such devices,

a7Wentworth and Chen, op. cit


Figure XI-21 .— High-Temperature Thermal Storage Cost per kWht VersusStorage Capacity

200

100

50

20

10

5

2

1.00

.50

.20

Note: The storage units would loseonly about 5Y0 of the energystored in the interval indicated.

.10

100 1000 104

Storage capacity (kWht)

105 10’


they are unlikely to play a significant role inenergy storage for some time. AlI otherforms of electric “storage” convert the elec-tricity into mechanical or chemical energyin such a way that electricity can be easilyremoved.

MECHANICAL STORAGE DEVICES

The only large-scale electric storage sys-tems in use today are pumped hydroelectricstorage facilities. A conventional installa-tion consists of two lakes connected with adevice which is a combination pump andturbine generator. Water is pumped into theupper lake when energy is available tocharge the storage and is dischargedthrough the turbine generator when thesystem is discharged. Standard hydroelec-tric facilities can provide storage since theflow of water through turbines can be re-stricted during periods of low demand, in ef-fect storing water in the dam’s lake for lateruse.

Hydroelectric storage facilities are likelyto continue to be one of the least expensivetechniques for storing electricity, even if ad-vanced electric storage systems of othertypes are developed. Unfortunately, theUnited States has already exploited a signifi-cant fraction of the most attractive sites forhydroelectric facilities, and attempts to de-velop many of the remaining sites are likelyto face determined opposition on environ-mental grounds. A number of potential sitesare protected under the “Wild and S c e n i cRivers Act” and other legislation. A pumpedhydroelectric facility is particularly unat-tractive from an environmental standpoint,and the lakes created are difficult to use forrecreation. This is because the water levelsin lakes created in a pumped hydroelectricsystem change significantly throughout theday and the pumping continuously mixeswater from different parts of the lake.

It may be possible to greatly expand thenumber of potential sites for pumped hydro-electric facilities by placing one of the stor-

age reservoirs deep underground as llus-trated in figure Xl-22. Such a facility couldbe located wherever minable rock exists atthe required depths, but would cost consid-erably more than a standard hydroelectricfacility. Recent estimates of the cost of apumped hydroelectric facility capable ofproducing 2,000 MWe for 10 hours rangefrom $270 to $350/kW.88

Looking in another direction, it has beenfound that a very large amount of potentialhydroelectric capacity can be found in thenumerous small dams which already existaround the United States. The generatingcapacity of existing small hydroelectric sitescould be expanded, and generators could beadded to a number of dams which currentlyare used exclusively for other purposes, Theresults of a preliminary survey of the op-portunities presented by existing dams aresummarized in figure Xl-23 and table Xl-7.The survey discovered that a generatingcapacity of 26.6 GWe could be installed atsmall dams (dams capable of producing lessthan 5 MWe of power) and that these smallfacilities could provide 159 billion kWh an-nually. This represented approximately halfof the new capacity identified. The extent towhich such dams couId be used for powerand storage cannot be determined without amore detailed examination of the issue.

It must also be recognized that solarenergy systems will not be able to benefitdirectly from most of the added hydroelec-tric capacity, since utilities will want to takemaximum advantage of new and existing hy-droelectric facilities for storage and formeeting peak demands. Solar equipmentcould benefit indirectly to the extent thatthe new facilities improve the ability of util-ities to meet fluctuating demands. Mechan-ical storage of electricity can also be accom-plished with flywheels by compressing gas inunderground caverns for use in Braxton cy-cle engines, and in other ways. These tech-niques have been adequately reviewed else-where.

“Frank M. Scot t , “Underground HydroelectricPumped Storage. A Practical Option,” Energy, Fall1977, p 20.

-—

Ch. XI Energy Storage . 467

Figure Xl-22.— An Isometric View of an Underground Pumped

Venthouse

Upper/

reservoir

Penstock shaft

Lowerreservoir

Tail race

‘ Accessbuilding

Constructionandventilationshaft

Manifold

Pens

tunnels and sucti

(Not to scale)

Storage Plant

Ground level—

SOURCE: Scott, Frank M. “Underground Hydroelectric Pumped Storage: A Practical Option” Energy Fall/1977 p. 20


15

14

13

12

11

10

9

8

i‘ - - 7

6

5

A

3

2

1

0

Figure Xl-23.— Conventional Hydroelectric Capacity Potential at Existing Dams

36,418

35,661

\

SOURCE McDOnald. R J Pr[ncfipal lnV=tI@o~ (us .ArmY cows O! EfwmeersEs!,mate of Na!lonal l+ydroeleclrtc Power POtentlal at Extst#ng Dams July 20 1977


Table XI-7.-Conventional Hydroelectric CapacityConstructed and Potential at Existing Dams

——Capacity Generation

(millions of (billions ofkW) kWh)

Developed . . . . . . . . . . . . 57.0 271.0Under construction . . . . . 8.2 16.8

Total installed . . . . . . 65.2 287.8

Potential rehabilitationof existing hydrodams 5.1 24.4

Potential expansion ofexisting hydrodams . . . 15.9 29.8

Potential at existing non-hydro dams greaterthan 5,000 kW . . . . . . . . 7.0 20.4

Potential at existing non-hydro dams less than5,000 kW . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.6 84.7

Total potential . . . . . 54.6 159.3

Total (developedand undeveloped). 119.8 447.1

SOURCE: McDonald, R J Principal Investigator (U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers Institute for Water Resources), “Estimate of Na-tional Hydroelectric Power Potential at Exlstlng Dams,” July20, 1977

BATTERY STORAGE

Batteries are able to store electrical en-ergy by using a variety of different reversi-ble electro-chemical reactions. The electri-cal energy must be introduced and with-drawn from batteries as direct current, how-ever, and a “power-conditioning” devicemust be included in any battery systemwhich receives and produces alternatingcurrent. Within large bounds, the cost ofbatteries per unit of storage capacity is in-dependent of the size of the system sincemost batteries are built by combining alarge number of individual reacting cells.Larger systems may benefit from some econ-omies of scale because of savings d u e t omore efficient packing, lower building costs,and possibly lower costs of power condition-ing for larger systems, but a separate anal-

ysis on this point must be performed foreach type of battery. It is likely that therewill be an optimum size for each device.

Lead-acid batteries are the only devicescurrently mass produced for storing largeamounts of electrical energy using electro-chemical reactions. Systems as large as5,000 kWh are currently used in diesel sub-marines. Batteries now on the market whichcan be deeply discharged often enough tobe attractive for onsite or utility storage ap-plications, however, are too expensive foreconomic use by electric utilities. Extensivework is being done to determine whether itis possible to develop batteries suitable foruse in utility systems. Work is being done onadvanced lead-acid battery designs and onseveral types of advanced batteries which itis hoped will be less expensive than lead-


acid batteries in the long term. This workhas been thoroughly reviewed in several re-cent papers . 89 90 91 92

Lead-Acid Batteries

When voltage is applied to a lead-acidbattery, energy is stored by converting thelead sulfate (PbSO 4) on the battery elec-trodes into a mixture of pure lead (Pb), leaddioxide (PbO 2), and sulphuric acid (H2S 04);the reaction is reversed when the battery isdischarged.

The current market for lead-acid batteriescapable of muItiple deep cycles is very Iim-ited and prices are high. (Automobile bat-teries cannot be used in power applicationssince the full charge in such batteries can-not be withdrawn repeatedly without dam-aging the battery. ) “Houselighting batterysets” are being manufactured for use withwindmills and remote generating plants.Units capable of 2,000 deep cycles cost ap-proximately $385/kWh.93 94 Golf cart bat-teries sell for as little as $40/kWh, but areonly capable of about 350 cycles. Industrialtraction batteries, used in fork-lift trucksand the like, have Iifetimes of nearly 2,000cycles and are available for as little as$80/kWh.

89An Assessment of Energy Storage Systems Suitablefor Use by E/ectric Uti/ities, Public Service Electricand Gas Company under E PRI Project 225 and ERDAContract No E (11-1 ~2501, Vols. I & 11, july 1976.

‘“Near-Term Energy Storage Technologies: The Lead-Acid Battery, a compilation of papers presented at theERDA-E PRI-ILERO Workshop, Dec. 18-19, 1975, EPRISR-33

91j R, Birk, T h e L e a d - A c i d B a t t e r y fo r E/ectricUtilities: A Review and Analysis, presented at ERDA-E PRI Lead-Acid Battery Workshop 11, Dec. 9,1976

‘*Ralph Whitaker and Jim Birk, “Storage Batter[es:The Case and the Candidates, ” EPR/ journa/, October1976, pp 6-13

“Prices quoted by Solar Wind Company, NorthOrland, Maine The batteries are of Austrian manufac-ture and come in a clear polystyrene case with bu i It-inpilot-ball charge indicators in each cell.

“All prices quoted are based on the battery capaci-ty when discharged to rated depth-of- dischargeUnless otherwise stated, it is assumed that batteriesoperate with 80-percent discharge in a typical cycle.

The Department of Energy asked severalbattery manufacturers to est imate howmuch it would cost to manufacture a bat-tery capable of storing 5 megawatt-hours,discharging in 10 hours, and lasting 500 to1,000 cycles, using essentially off-the-shelfcomponents. The manufacturers’ responsesaveraged about $93/kWh, but responsesvaried from $41 to $138/kWh.95 This spreadreflects a range of battery capabilities. Anindependent survey conducted by the Bech-tel Corporation resulted in an estimate ofabout $63/kWh.96

The industrial battery price of $80/kWhwill be used in further analysis to represent“current” battery pr ices for communitysystems.

While the range of prices encountered fornear-term batteries reflects the differingspecifications, production rates, etc., thereis rather remarkable agreement about whatbatteries will cost in the intermediate termwhen comparable assumptions are used. Ta-ble Xl-8 shows recent estimates of the priceand specifications of load-leveling batteries,assuming a production rate of 1,000 MWh/yrin a dedicated production facility. These es-timates reflect a relatively rapid writeoff ofplant costs. Westinghouse has estimated97 aselling price of $41.68/kWh by assuming ver-tical integration of lead production and bat-tery manufacture, present battery technol-ogy, and more optimistic assumptions aboutwriteoff.

A major disadvantage of contemporarylead-acid battery designs is their relativelylow storage capacity per unit weight. This isdue largely to the amount of lead used.Lead-acid batteries have a theoretical “en-ergy density” of about 0.175 kWh/kg, and

““A National Battery Energy Storage Test (BEST)Facility Conceptual Design and Design and CostEstimate,” BEST Facility Study Project Team, EPRI255, ERDA 31-109-38-2962, Technical Report 1, August1975, p I 11-11

9’Bechtel Corporation, op clt97 Study of the Manufacturing Costs of Lead-Acid

f l a t t e r i e s fo r P e a k i n g P o w e r , F i n a l R e p o r t ,Westinghouse Electric Corp , ERDA Contract No.E(40-18}21 14, December 1976,


Table X1.8.—Economic Specifications (5-hr Battery)——— . .— .

Specification C & Da ESB Globe-Union Gould Westing -houseb

Price ($/kWh)c . . . . . . . . . . . 55 56 58 5 4d

49

Life (cycles at 77” F), ., . . 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 1,750 (95° F)

Price/cycle, ., . . . . . . ., . . . . 2.7 2,8 2.9 2.7 2.8

Efficiency (%)e . . ., ., 73 76 72 70 68

Replacement price ($/kWhr) 40 32 38 25 34O & M c o s t ( m i l l s / k W h r ) 0.28 0.18 — — —

—- —.-aea~ed upon B50,0 depth Of d IsCharge to a c h i e v e 2 , 0 0 0 c y c l e s I n s t e a d o f 9 5 ° . o f d i s c h a r g e t o a c h i e v e 1,250 cycles

at a price of $49/ kWhr (to be discussed)

bDoes no[ reflect raw ~aterlals Integration and market optimism Included by Westinghouse (to be discussed)

cAssumes 25c / lb lead

‘Installed cost

el ncl udes Conversion eff Iclency Of 9000

SOURCE James R Blrk, “The Lead-Acid Battery for Electrlc Utlllt}es A Review and Analysls “presented at theERDA / EPRI Lead-Acid Battery Workshop 11, Dec 9, 1976

thus a perfect battery would weigh about12,6 pounds per kWh. Commercial batteriesweigh more than this because of design inef-ficiencies and the need to provide packag-ing for the active materials Commerciallead-acid systems weigh about 100 poundsper kWh of storage capacity, of which 60 to80 pounds is lead The cost of this rathersubstantiaI quantity of lead imposes a prac-tical lower limit on the price of lead-acidbatteries

In 1975, when ERDA asked three of thelargest battery manufacturers in the UnitedStates to design the lowest cost battery forutility applications, the estimates of mate-rial costs ranged from $24 to $34/kWh. 98

(The range is much smaller if allowance ismade for the differing Iifetimes of the de-signs. ) Very high production volumes wouldbe required before the price of the completebattery would approach this minimummaterial cost.

The Axel Johnson Institute for industrialResearch in Sweden has proposed a noveltechnique for reducing lead requirements by

using aluminum electrodes covered with alead coating. The device is currently beingtested by EPRI.99

The current U.S. production rate of leadcould support all foreseeable needs of on-site electric systems and should be able tosupport the development of a nationwidebattery system used for utility peak shaving(although the price of lead would undoubt-edly increase if a very large demand devel-oped). Present U.S. domestic lead consump-tion is about 600,000 tons per year, and ourreserves are estimated at 40 miIIion tons(World production is approximately 3.6

mill ion tons and world reserves 141 mill iontons.)1oo Thus, at present energy densities,current production rates could provide 15 to20 mi l l ion kWh of storage per year orenough to provide 4,000 to 5,000 MWe for 4hours every day. At this rate of production,therefore, it would take 10 years to developa battery system capable of meeting 10 per-cent of U.S. electricity demand for 4 hours

“A C Slrnon and S M Cauldar, “ T h e L e a d - A c i df3a t tery, Proceeding~, Symposium and Workshop onAdvanced F3attery Resear( h and Design, Argonne Na-tlon~l Ldbordtory (AN L-76-8), Nldrc h 1976

‘ “ O M / n e r . ? l \ \earbooA, U S D e p a r t m e n t of the ln-terlor, [3u reau of JMI ne~, 1973


per day. The lead used in the batteries is notconsumed in the storage process, and afterthe initial investment is made, the materialcan be recycled indefinitely.

An ordinary automobile battery will last 3to 5 years, undergoing extremely shallowcycles several times a day, but would becapable of only 150 to 250 deep discharges.The electrodes in batteries used in golfcarts, industrial forklifts, etc., are usually 2or 3 times as thick as those used in car bat-teries and are typically capable of 300 to500 deep cycles. Batteries capable of dis-charging 2,000 times are currently availableand this has become a design objective forutiIity storage batteries.

A practical limit to the depth of dischargewhich can be obtained from a given batterydesign can be obtained by watching the bat-tery’s voltage. This voltage drops slowly dur-ing discharge and then begins to f al I sharply.If the battery is discharged beyond thispoint, its life is shortened substantially.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SAFETY PROBLEMS

Lead-acid batteries produce potentiallyhazardous gasses, such as hydrogen, arsine(AsH,), and stibine (SbH 3) when they arecycled. Hydrogen released in the atmos-phere has no effect on air quality or humanhealth, but is highly flammable and explo-sive in concentrations above 3 percent. Thisdanger can be eliminated by placing bat-teries in well-ventilated compartments.

Arsine and stibine are toxic, colorless,gaseous compounds which form during therequired, periodic, high-voltage charging oflead-acid batteries. For example, the recom-mended threshold Iimit values for arsine andstibine in workroom air are 0.05 ppm (0.2mg/m3) and 0.1 ppm (0.5 mg/m3), respectiveIy. lO1 Whether these levels will be exceededwhen charging lead-acid batteries for home

‘“’’’ Report on an Engineering Study of a 20 MWhLead-Acid Battery Energy Storage DemonstrationPlant,” for Argonne National Laboratory under Con-tract No. 31-109-38-2962, by Bechtel Corporation, Oc-tober 1975, p. 5-5.

energy storage is presently unknown. Therecognition of the possible adverse environ-mental impact of arsine and stibine and im-plementation of appropriate safeguards–proper battery placement and ventilation –reduces the risk of harm from these gasses.

Advanced Batteries

Three basic categories of advanced sys-tems are under exam i nation:

1.

2.

3.

Aqueous or water-based systems whichoperate with electrodes surrounded bya liquid electrolyte, as do lead-acidsystems.

Nonaqueous high-temperature systems,which use a nonaqueous material toconduct ions needed to complete theelectrochemical reaction.

“RED OX” (reduction/oxidation) deviceswhich reduce aqueous solut ions tostore energy. (REDOX batter ies are“aqueous,” but they are usually con-sidered separately. )

Table Xl-9 summarizes the characteristicsof several advanced battery designs.

AQUEOUS BATTERIES

Zinc Chloride

Zinc-chloride batteries are aqueous devices which can store electrical energy inaqueous chemical solutions at ambient tem-perature. Research on this battery is under-way in a joint venture of Gulf Western In-dustries and the Occidental Petroleum Cor-poration. Small (50 kWh) units have beentested at Argonne National Laboratory, andit is expected that a 10 MWh battery will betested in a realistic utility environment by1980.

The small experimental batteries now be-ing produced cost approximately $2000 akilowatt hour, but when the system reachesproduction stages, cost is expected to bereduced to $40 to $50. This is more expen-sive than projections for lithium or sodiumbattery systems, but this cost is offset to

,.

.

Table X1.9.—Load-Leveling Batteries: Candidates and Characteristics; Developers and Demonstration Dates

Lead acid (Pb/Pb02) 2030 110 11 075 25 10 -15

Sodium sulfur

(Na / S) 300350 360 70 2 5 85 75

Sodium-antimonytrichloride(NA SbCl3) 200 350 50 20 80-90 25

Litium-metal sulfide400450 430 85 35 80 30

Zinc chlorine( X n / C l2) 50 210 45 1 0 100 40-50 b

Z[nc-bromine(Zn / Br2) 30-60 195 40

1590 30

Hydrogen-chlorine( H2 / C l2) 30-60 450 50

0 395 300

REDOX am bient — 40d — 90 40-60

Iron REDOX ambient — 38 2 6

aAl SCJ known as Utw!zatlon o f acllve m.ater, als

b5 n, rate

‘GE c al, dales fof IZ.I,IZI

a[whllstre 0! sol. t,onl

SOURCES EPRI Journal and K.n w Klund91 Battery Branch Of f#ce of Conservation EROA

850

049

235

4 27

Theor - 0.59cPractical - 0.84

Theor - 1.56Practical - 1.65

20

$3-$10

$1

>20

0 5

002

1 0

1.7

01

001

005

2,000

400

175

1000

2.000

50

200>1 ,000

Lead

Antimony

Lithium

Ruthenium(catalyst)

None

PlatinumRuthenium(catalyst)

NoneNone

Gould Inc ESB Inc C&DBatteries Globe-UnionInc.: K.W. Battery Co

General Electr ic Co DowChemical Co Ford Motorc o

ESB Inc

Atomics International DIV

RockwelI InternationalCorp.: Argonne NationalLaboratory

Energy Development As-sociates

Exxon Gould GE

GE, BNL

NASA-LewisG E L

1979 1981 83

1981 82

1981 82

1980

1980

1983 — Post 1985

1983 . Post 198’3

1984 19861980

1988

II\


some extent by the fact that zinc-chloridebatteries produce a constant voltage andequipment necessary to convert the currentto a.c. is cheaper than other systems, result-ing in an overall competitive price. Zinc-chloride batteries are capable of operatingat ambient temperatures, but require a com-plex plumbing system for circulating theelectrolyte and controlling the temperatureof the system. ’02 ’03 The presence of chlorinegases could create an environmental prob-lem if used in onsite systems.

Zinc Bromide

The zinc-bromide battery is another aque-ous device being developed primarily forutiIity load leveling and electric automo-biles. Early work on these batteries was doneby the G.E.L. Corporation of Durham, N.C.Devices developed by the General ElectricCorporation have operated for more than2,000 cycles of 2.5 hours discharges. ’04

Researchers at G.E. believe that batteriesbased on this concept, capable of 65 to 80percent efficiencies, should cost no morethan $17 to $26/kWh (excluding the cost ofpumps, controls, and marketing). The majorproblem is the development of a low-costand reliable membrane. Imper fec t mem-branes lead to a “self-discharge.” In themost recent G, E. designs, the cell dischargesat about 0.1 percent per hour.

One potentialIy serious problem with zincbromide is the caustic nature of the brominesolution. Containment of this material canbe expensive and great care must be takento ensure that this powerful chemical isproperly contained.

HIGH-TEMPERATURE BATTERIES

Sodium/Sulfur

Sodium/sulfur batteries, under develop-ments by the Ford Motor Company, use ac-

‘(l’N Yao and j .R Blrk, op cit.“] ‘t3echtel Corp , op cit.‘(”F G Will, “The Zinc-Bromide Battery: Possible

Candidate for E Iectric Vehicles and Load Level ing, ”Proceedings, 12th IECEC Conference, 1977, p 250.

tive materials which are inexpensive andwidely available. Most of the developmentwork on this battery has centered on a solidelectrolyte material called “beta-alumina”(an alloy made of sodium, aluminum, andoxygen), 05 and the electrolyte costs consid-erably more than the active materials to-day. ’”’ Small 10-to-15 watt sodium/sulfurcelIs are now being run in excess of 3,000cycles, and Ford hopes to test a 5-to-10MWh battery in late 1981. A second sod-ium/sulfur concept is being developed byDow Chemical, and is about 2 years behindthe Ford research. Both systems still costsome $3,000 a kilowatt hour, but projectionsare that the Ford system will be reduced to$30 by 1985-87, while Dow suggests that a$24.50 cost can be attained perhaps a yearlater from its system. G.E. and EPRI spentabout $3.5 million developing this systembetween 1967 and 1976, and expect to spendabout $3.5 milIion in FY 78.

Systems have been demonstrated whichare capable of 90-percent discharge and 77percent-efficiencies. ’07 The major develop-ment problem remains the beta-aluminaelectrolyte. Poor quality material tends tocrack and degrade and seals have been unre-liable, Another issue, identified as a prob-lem by G.E,, is the difficulty which may beencountered in scaling the units up to a sizewhere they can be used in large central util-ity applications. It is expected that large bat-teries will be constructed from units of 10 to100 kWh.‘08

Lithium-Metal Sulfides

Lithium-metal sulfide batteries are beingexamined primarily by Argonne NationalLaboratories under a DOE contract. Ar-gonne is now making 150 W/h cells capable

““N P Yao and J R Birk, op cit , p 1107.IObArthur L Robinson, “Advanced Storage Bat-

teries Progress But Not E lectrlfytng, ” Science, May 7,1976, p 543

‘07S. P Mitoff, et al , “Recent Progress In theDevelopment of Sodium Sulphur Battery for UtilityApplications, ” Proceedings, 12th I ECEC Conference,1977

‘O’S P Mltoff, Op. clt

Ch. X/ Energy Storage 475

of 500 deep cycles. I n 1982, a 5-to-1 O MWhcell module is scheduled to be tested inArgonne’s Battery Energy Storage Test(BEST) facility. Argonne foresees a cost of$ 2 9 . 1 6 p e r kWh a t fu l l p roduc t ion in1985-87. Like sodium/sulfur batteries, lith-ium-metal sulfide devices now cost about$3,000 a kwh to produce experimentallyand in small working applications.

Both the sodium/sulfur and the lithium-metal sulfide batteries operate at tempera-tures above 300 “C, and the combination ofhigh temperatures and reactive materials re-quires hermetic sealing.109 There are accom-panying seal problems. Questions have beenraised about the safety of using the sod-ium/sulfur system in large numbers unlessstringent precautions are taken to protectagainst a rupture of the containment vessel.Since the lithium battery uses two metals,the chemical reaction caused by a rupturewould not be as serious as it would in asodium cell, which uses two Iiquids.

Both lithium and sodium are flammableand, under some conditions, explosive. 10The use of lithium and sodium batteries,therefore, must include careful provision forfire and explosion containment.

REDOX BATTERIES

The REDOX battery presents a tantalizing

opportunity for electric storage s ince de-vices based on the design may be able t o

store energy in tanks of inexpensive chemi-cals; storage costs couId be $10/kWh or less.The problem which has plagued the devel-opment of these systems for many years isthe need for a semipermeable membranewith some rather remarkable properties. Theneed for a sophisticated membrane could beeliminated, however, if an iron-REDOX de-sign is perfected.

’09 Herbert P. Silverman, Lynn S. Marcoux, and Ed-die T. See, TRW, Inc , “Development Program forSolld E Iectrolyte Batteries, ” Final Report for EPRI,EM-226, September 1976

1 I°Chemlcal R u b b e r C o m p a n y , H a n d b o o k ofChemistry and Physics, 54th Edltlon, 1973-74, pp B-19,B-31

In a standard REDOX battery, the twostorage tanks (called the “catholyte reser-voir” and the “anolyte reservoir” in the dia-gram) contain different chemicals. In onedesign which has received recent attention,the tank connected to the positive terminalcontains a solution of F e+2 and Fe+ 3 ions,and the tank connected to the negative ter-minal contains a solution of Ti + 3 and Ti+ 4

ions. When the battery is completely dis-charged, the one tank is filled with FeCl2 andthe other with TiCl4. When the battery is be-ing charged, negatively charged chlorineions drift across the semipermeable mem-brane and combine with FeCl2, producingF e C l3 and giving up the extra negat ivecharge to the positive terminal. On the otherside of the membrane, chlorine ions are re-leased when T i C l4 forms TiCl3, taking anelectron from the negative electrode. Theelectric current from the positive to thenegative electrode is matched by the flow ofchlorine ions across the membrane. It is im-portant that the membrane be able to passchlorine ions with minimal resistance, butnot allow either the iron or the titanium topass. If iron or titanium leaks through themembrane, the performance of the device isgradually degraded. NASA-Lewis has beenworking on systems based on this design fora number of years, and it is hoped that a bat-tery suitable for demonstration in utility ap-plications will be available by 1985.

Iron REDOX

The iron-REDOX battery being developedby the G.E.L. Corporation operates on muchthe same principle as the REDOX system justdescribed, but uses the same chemical a t

both electrodes, thereby greatly simplifying

t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s p l a c e d o n t h e m e m -brane. 112 The basic components of an iron-REDOX battery system are illustrated infigure Xl-24.

When the iron-REDOX system is com-pletely discharged, the storage tanks are

“ ‘K. W. Klunder, Office of Conservation, ERDA,private communication

112The C E L. Corporation, Durham, N C , P e r -formance Status, January 1977


‘ “Dr. R Zito, President, the G.E. L Corporation,private communication, September 1977.

by resistive heating. With design improve-ments it may be possible to achieve overallef f ic iencies of 80 to 85 percent withmoderate discharge rates. The system is notdamaged by deep discharges.

The reaction chamber with its membranewill account for the bulk of the cost of theiron-REDOX system – the chemicals and thetanks needed to store them will probablycost less than $2/kWh. The cost of this reac-tion chamber is a direct function of the areaof membrane required. G. E. L. estimates thatthe graphite electrodes they are now usingcan store about 1 amp-hour per square inchof electrode surface. After this thickness hasbeen deposited, the deposited iron becomesuneven and physically unstable. If a largearea is allowed per unit of power delivered,the system is more efficient but costs perkilowatt increase. The cost of reactors capa-ble of delivering different amounts of powerper unit of membrane surface is shown in ta-ble XI-10. An electric storage system de-

Figure Xl-24.— lron”REDOX Battery Structure and Plumbing Diagram

Catholyte

ir

SOURCE: GEL, Inc , Durham, N C


Table XI-10.— Loss Mechanisms ofiron-REDOX Batteries

Loss factors

Loss mechanisms Percent at Percent at0.10 A / in2 0.4 A / in2

H 2 evolution . . ., . . . . . 1-2 2.3pH regeneration . . . . ., 1-2 2-3Fe + 3 membrane diffusion . 2-3 0.5-2

Joule heating—electrolyte 2-4 6-14—thru membrane . . . . - o - o

Polarization effects ., . . 14-20 14-20

Fluid pumping, . . . . . . . ‘1 - 1Fluid manifold conduction -1-2 -1-2

Total loss. . . . . . . . . . . . . 22-34 26.5-45

Reactor cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . $68/ kW $18/kW

SOURCE The G E L Corporation, Durham, N C., September 1977

signed for use in a solar energy applicationmay require a device capable of storing alarge amount of energy for periods of 10 to20 days, but there would be no need to dis-charge the entire device over a short period.The REDOX device would appear to be wellsuited for such an application.

The devices will probably not show sig-nificant economies of scale until systems ofmore than a few hundred kwh of storagecapacity are constructed.

G.E.L. is presently constructing a 2.2 MWhiron-REDOX battery system with a peak out-put of 250 kW for use in the MississippiCounty Community College total solar en-ergy system. This DOE-sponsored projectshould be operating by late 1979. The stor-age system will consist of 24 reactor mod-ules rated at 11 kW. Each module will con-tain 130 to 150 bipolar electrodes and willmeasure approximately 120 x 60 x 240 cm(2 ‘ x 4 ‘ x 8 ‘). The entire system will require60,000 to 80,000 liters (1 5,000 to 20,000gallons) of electrolyte. A model of the sys-tem is shown in figure Xl-25. Electrodes andmembranes for the system have been devel-oped for reproduction with acceptable elec-trical and mechanical characteristics, butimprovements can be expected as the design

matures. To date, no chemical or mechan-ical problems have been encountered whichwould cast doubt on the ultimate practical-ity of the device. However, firm conclusionsare not possible until information becomesavailable from a demonstration of the full-scale system.

POWER CONDITIONERS

Design Alternatives

Most battery storage systems will requiresome kind of “power-conditioning” systemto supervise their connection with sourcesof charging energy and with the loads metwhiIe discharging.

This equipment can serve four functions:

1

2

3

4

Regulate the rate at which a battery ischarged and discharged to protect thebattery and extend its useful life;

Serve as a switching system, and deter-mine whether the loads will be met di-rectly from the onsite generating sys-tem, from storage, from the utility, orfrom some combination of these (insome cases it can also allow the storageto be charged from the utility);

Rectify alternating current receivedfrom the onsite generator or from theutiIity so that this energy can be used tocharge the battery; and

Invert the direct current produced bythe battery or by the onsite generatingequipment, creating alternating currentwhose voltage and frequency meet ac-ceptable standards of uniformity.

A system which can perform all of thesefunctions is illustrated in figure Xl-26. NotalI devices will be as complex as the oneshown, and designs wilI differ greatly fromone application to another.

The most important design decision iswhether to use an inverter. These devicesare by far the most complex elements of apower-conditioning system and represent 85to 95 percent of the cost of a typical powerconditioner. Inverters would not be needed


Figure Xl-25.— Model of iron-REDOX Battery Facility

. . . . ..* . . .-. .*X-. .K?. -. . . . . . . - . . . . . s . s s .

SOURCE: G. E, L.. Inc


Figure XI-26.—The Elements of a Power Conditioning System

DC Loads

BatteryInterface

IInterface

I

AC Loads

if local loads could be met by direct current,but these savings could be largely offset bythe costs of converting a residence or indus-try to d.c. operation. A quantitative assess-ment of this issue is beyond the scope of thecurrent study, but it is possible to outlinethe major factors which must be consideredI f conversion to a d.c , system is con-templated:

Over two-thirds of the power requiredin a typical residence is used in equip-ment which could easily be convertedto d.c. operation. Incandescent lights,heaters, stoves, heating elements i ndriers, etc., could al l operate withdirect current without major difficulty.

The only devices requir ing a.c. arefluorescent lights, systems with electricmotors, and electronic devices such astelevisions, radios, and the like. Most ofthese appliances are currently availablein d.c. versions, however, althoughsome are more costly than their a.c.equivalents. A complete Iine of residen-t ia l d .c appl iances is avai lable formobiIe homes.

●

It

Direct current systems would requiremore expensive switches and fuses, Thecost of wiring would be higher if low-voltage d.c. were used,

should also be recognized that a d.c,system which relies on the utiIity grid to pro-vide backup wilI need a rectifier. (Most in-verters can rectify as welI as invert and sowould not require separate rectifying equip-merit. ) Rectifiers tend to cost about 30 per-cent as much as inverters of equivalentpower rat ings.

A typical inverter can provide some kindof fauIt or short-circuit protection and canprovide a.c, synchronized with the utilitygrid. The cost, design, and performance ofinverters vary greatly and are strongly de-pendent on the quality of the a.c current re-quired. Systems using grid backup wilI clear-ly be required to provide a well-filtered out-put which matches the grid in frequency and

‘ “ l a c l l l t y S y s t e m s E nglneerlng C o r p o r a t i o n , 5/?oP-

PIng Center App/icat/errs of Photovo/ta/c So/dr Power

Sys(ems, ERDA Contract (1 1-1 ~.2748, 1976


phase. Performance is usually specified interms of the voltage control, and the har-monic content of the voltage produced.

Older units frequently were nothing morethan a d.c. motor which drove an a.c. gener-ator, but most modern devices use solid-state components based on silicon-con-trolled rectifiers. The solid-state devices areusually more reliable and require less main-tenance. Most of these systems are “linecommutated” in that they rely on utilitypower to establish the phase and frequencyof their a.c. generation. Devices operatingindependently of grid power (self-commu-tated systems) are also available, but aremore expensive.

Interest in developing inverters of varioussizes has come from a variety of places.Small inverters have been developed formilitary applications, for smalI onsite gener-ating plants (using windmills and c o n v e n -tional power sources), etc. Larger devicesare available from suppliers of interruptible

power supplies which are used in hospitals,computer centers, and other installationswhich cannot afford to lose power whengrid electricity is unavailable. Much largerunits are in use and being developed for d.c.transmission Iines.

The design of interface and regulator sys-tems is quite straightforward and systemsare available in a variety of sizes. The com-plexity and cost of the system will dependstrongly on the speed with which the systemmust sh i f t f rom one power source toanother, and on the system design.

System Performance

The efficiency of modern solid-state in-verters is in the range of 92 to 95 percentwhen the devices are operating at more thanabout 25 percent of peak capacity. Belowthis point, the efficiency falls off quitesharply since a fixed amount of energy is re-quired even at zero loads. Figure Xl-27 illus-trates the part-load efficiency of a typical

Figure Xl-27.— Efficiency of a Solid-StateInverter as a Function of Load

/

v 1 1 1 1 I20 40 60 80 100

Operating point (0/~ of full load)SOURCE: MERADCOM, DoD


sol id-state inverter. The mechanical invertersystems mentioned earlier are typically lessefficient than the sol id-state units.

The overall operating efficiency of invert-ers in small systems will probably be lowerthan the efficiency of inverters in large sys-tems because there is less load diversity inthe smaller systems. This can be expected toresult in more operation at partial load.

Voltage regulators are quite efficient atall power levels; typical systems are 98-percent efficient. 115

BATTERY SYSTEM COSTS

Since there is considerable disagreementabout the future price of batteries and sup-porting equipment for onsite storage sys-tems, cost estimates for battery storage sys-tems wilI be given in four categories:

1. A near-term price, reflecting the costsof devices which could be purchased in1976.

1‘‘Bechtel Corporation, Energy Storage and PowerCondit ioning Aspects of Photovo/taic So/ar PowerSystems, prepared for Spectrolab, I nc , under Sub-contract No 66725, October 1975.

2

3

4.

An estimate based on present estimatesof the cost of lead-acid batteries and in-verters produced in large numbers(1,000 MWh/yr) for distributed storageapplications.

An advanced-concept estimate of fu-ture prices which assumes that inexpen-sive, advanced battery systems such assodium/sulfur or lithium-metal sulfideare successfully developed. This pricecould also apply to very large contractor Government purchases, where salesoverhead couId be reduced.

A very low-cost estimate which assumesthat low-cost advanced-concept sys-tems such as iron-REDOX are success-fully developed.

The results of these estimates are summa-rized in table Xl-11 and figure Xl-28.

The cost of a battery storage system con-sists of three major components: the cost ofthe battery itself; the cost of the power-con-ditioning system; and the remaining costwhich includes instalIation and the space re-quired to house the system. The cost of eachcomponent is treated separately,

. —

Table Xl-1 1 .—System Cost Estimates for Near-, Intermediate., and Lena-Term(Including 25-Percent Off)

—

L l f e t l m e ( d e e p c y c l e s )0 & M cost (mills/kWh discharged)

Replacement cost (% of original)Assumed discharge t I me (hours)

F i rs t costs

(1) Commerc ia l and mul t l fam{ lyres ident Ia l sys tems

Battery cost ($/ kWh)BuIIding and other costsa

( $ / k W h )P o w e r - c o n d ! t l o n I n g c o s t s b

( $ / k W )

(2) Home systemsBat tery cos ts ($ /kWh)BuIIdIng and other costs a

( $ / k w h )

Power-condI t IonInq costs b

( $ / k W )

— —

Present market pr ices

2000028855

Present technologywt th mass product ion

2000028605

Advanced concept or L o n g - t e r madvanced Iead-ac id tech- i ron-REDOX

nology wIth Iarqe firm con-tracts (e.g., GSA) 1990-2000

2000(O 287)1005

2000(c)10010

Ch. Xl Energy Storage . 483

Figure Xl-28.— Power-Conditioning Cost Versus Power

10000

50

20

~ 2 0 0 - - - - -x

0.1

1 KW

1

1 MW

100 1000

Rated power (kW)

1 0 0 , 0 0 0 1,000,000

Below 10kW this data represents catalog prices and quotes for commercialIy available units

The unit at $10/kW (3kW) provides square wave output. The prices between 10 kW and 25 MW are prices for uninterruptible power suppIies less batteries whichare generalIy more sophisticated t h an wiII be required for onsite electric systemsThe data for higher power levels represent projected prices for utility load-Ievellng systems

—The solid line segments represent prices for a single manufacturer as a function of size– “Gemini Synchronous 8 kW Inserter, ”— Windworks, P O Box 329, Mukwango. Wis

x Prices for current-fed inverter systems from Peter Wood. AC/DC power Conditioning and Control for Advanced Conversion and Storage Technology EPRI

390-1-1 (1975) The lower price IS for a Iine commutated system hiqher price IS for a comparable Isolated system

Thermal energy storage

Documents

Transcript of Thermal energy storage