Thermal storage

German energy giant RWE Power is developing a high-temperature thermal-storage system for combined-cycle power plants (CCGT).

The integration of such a storage system into a CCGT power plant would enable the supply of electricity and heat to be decoupled, permitting surplus heat produced during the day to be provided during the night when the gas turbine is not operating.

This is currently not possible in CCGT power plants, which are operated in the combined heat-and-power mode (CHP).

The company will work on the system over the next few years together with ThyssenKrupp Xervon Energy, the Paul Wurth Group and the Institut für Technische Thermodynamik des Deutschen Zentrums für Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR).

The project itself is expected to take approximately two and a half years to complete. Once the development phases have been concluded, the partners intend to erect a pilot facility with a capacity of 10MWh; the co-generation plant of RWE Power in Dortmund could be one potential site.