Technology Readiness Assessment of Thermal Energy Storage Integrated With Gas Turbine Power Plants

This paper presents an integration readiness assessment for Thermal Energy Storage (TES) concepts. TES’s primary motivation is to store surplus energy and release it as needed to balance demand. Within the broader energy market, TES seeks to capture arbitrage opportunities and enable higher capacity factors for Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) sources like wind and solar. The paper explores how integrating energy storage with gas-turbine-based power plants can enhance value and capacity while reducing CO2 emissions. Both simple cycle and combined cycle plants are considered. The paper carries out an Integration and System Readiness Assessment (ISRA) for three specific TES technologies: Brenmiller Crushed Rock, Pintail Power Liquid Salt Combined Cycle (LSCC), and Redox Box Thermochemical storage. The ISRA’s objective is to systematically evaluate the system readiness level (SRL) to determine the current development status and potential risks. Early identification of these risks can guide targeted demonstrations to mitigate risk and validate the technology. ISRA has been carried out for other systems but is being applied to the problem of the integration of new storage technology with existing generating assets with a desire to derisk technology showstoppers earlier in the maturation process. This paper demonstrates how this process can be used to focus technology development efforts on derisking activities vs. demonstration for demonstration’s sake. Interviews were conducted with the technology developers to evaluate their current status, challenges, and successes. The focus is not solely on the score but on using the method to identify the technologies’ development stage. This paper specifically addresses readiness for integration into gas turbine power plants. Controls and balance of plant challenges when integrating into existing power plants were a common area for development.