Solar Thermal Energy Storage

Basics

• Solar thermal is a great renewable form of energy

• Despite this it (along with Photovoltaic Solar) only works when the sun shines (ie not at night, and not during storms/sufficiently cloudy days)

• Thus storage is neccisary for more stable power

• This page explores that

Research

Methods

• Saturated Water

• Molten Salt (or equivalent other substances)

• Heated Solid (Such as a metal cube with an insulating shroud)

• Pressurized Air

• Pressurized/Elevated Water

• Flywheel

• Conversion to Electricity, and Electric Storage

Minimum Viable product

• Capable of storing x Joules of Energy

Basic Design

Heat Accumulator

• Either a Linear Solar Concentrator, a Parabolic Solar Accumulator, or an array of Open Source Heliostats

Heat Delivery

• Either by piping of the working fluid, or a heatpipe

Heat Storage

• See Research

Useful Links

• Basic concept of steam accumulators - see p2. - [1]

• Dismisses steam accumulator as not having enough power for turbines. That's correct, but it would have sufficient power for smaller modern steam engines. [2]. Proposes molten salt and concrete blocks as more likely.

• Saturates water storage - or Ruths storage system - [3]