Hybridized Thermal Energy Storage Pilot Plant

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52825/solarpaces.v3i.2329

Keywords:

TES Hybridization, Macro-Encapsulated PCMs, Ultra-High Temperature MS, Moving-Bed Sorption Reactor, Endless Screw Sorption Reactor, HELISOL® 5A, MS-Air Heat Exchanger

Abstract

An innovative hybridized Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technologies pilot plant at the Iberian Research Centre for Energy Storage Research (CIIAE) in Cáceres (Spain) has been designed by RPow in 2024 and will be built in 2025. The project design enables both individual and simultaneous research about charge-discharge operations based on Molten Salts (MS), Phase Change Materials (PCM) and Sorption. The plant design configuration allows in turn testing with different heat transfer fluids (HTF, initially Helisol5A) and thermoregulating fluids (nano-capsules or micro-capsules). Researching object belong to prototyping (TRL’s 4-5) and demonstration (TRL’s 6-7). Moreover, the early research carried out about desired functionalities during the engineering definition has made it possible a TES management identification, searching for a thermal integration between the different technologies. This strategy has provided an increased overall efficiency during the expected researching tests along the plant lifetime and the future exploration of real applications and synergies between the TES systems at different temperature stages from 30 – 565 ºC.

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Author Biographies

Rafael Pérez Santana, RPow Consulting S.L.

Engineering Department. Project Leader

Adrián Blindu, RPow Consulting S.L.

Engineering Department. Process Engineer

Patricia Santamaria Prado, RPow Consulting SL

Innovation Department. Chief Innovation Officer (CIO)

Ángel Martínez Quesada, RPow Consulting S.L.

Engineering Department. Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

César Martín-Montalvo Sánchez, RPow Consulting S.L.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

References

[1] IRENA (2020), Innovation Outlook: Thermal Energy Storage, International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi.

[2] IEA (2021), Net Zero by 2050, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050, Licence: CC BY 4.

[3] Wacker (2024), Helisol 5A – Heat Transfer Fluid Extended Technical Data, Wacker Chemie AG, Munich. Web address: https://www.wacker.com/cms/en-us/home/home.html.

[4] SQM (2022), SQM’s thermo-solar salts, SQM International N.V., Antwerpen. Web address: https://www.sqm.com/en/.

[5] Caraballo, A., Galán-Casado, S., Caballero, Á., & Serena, S. (2021). Molten salts for sensible thermal energy storage: a review and an energy performance analysis. Energies, 14(4), 1197.

[6] Rubitherm (2020), RT100 Data sheet, Rubitherm Technologies GmbH, Berlin. Web address: https://www.rubitherm.eu/en/.

[7] Ng, K. C., Chua, H. T., Chung, C. Y., Loke, C. H., Kashiwagi, T., Akisawa, A., & Saha, B. B. (2001). Experimental investigation of the silica gel–water adsorption isotherm characteristics. Applied Thermal Engineering, 21(16), 1631-1642.

[8] Grupo Haiyang Yinhai España. Web site: https://www.geldesilice.com/es/.

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Published

2025-11-19

How to Cite

Pérez Santana, R., Blindu, A., Santamaria Prado, P., Martínez Quesada, Ángel, & Martín-Montalvo Sánchez, C. (2025). Hybridized Thermal Energy Storage Pilot Plant. SolarPACES Conference Proceedings, 3. https://doi.org/10.52825/solarpaces.v3i.2329

Conference Proceedings Volume

Vol. 3 (2024): SolarPACES 2024, 30th International Conference on Concentrating Solar Power, Thermal, and Chemical Energy Systems

Section

Thermal Energy Storage Materials, Media, and Systems

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Rafael Pérez Santana, Adrián Blindu, Patricia Santamaria Prado, Ángel Martínez Quesada, César Martín-Montalvo Sánchez

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Received 2024-09-06
Accepted 2025-04-29
Published 2025-11-19

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