Volume 4: Innovative Solutions for Energy Transitions: Part III

Power Generation for African Rural Communities: Initial Assessment of High Temperature Thermal Energy Storage for Smallscale Solar Brayton System B Cicinelli, TM Wolff, KE Dellar, WG Le Roux, A Sciacovelli

Abstract

This paper focuses on a small-scale solar-driven system for power generation in remote, off-grid, rural areas. In particular, the research investigates a smallscale thermal Brayton system suitable for power output < 10 kW. The study addressed the need of thermal energy storage integration into the main process to extend operability and electricity generation when solar irradiance is lower than the design value or insufficient to drive the process. The work combines both experimental and numerical methods to investigate integration of TES and four different types of TES materials.

Keywords Solar thermal, small-scale Brayton, thermal energy storage, phase-change materials