Evaluating the financial benefits of thermal energy storage in energy systems: Building the synergy of energy transition, green finance and renewable energy intensity in China

Abstract

Thermal energy storage equipped concentrated solar power facilities provide the combined benefits of offering operational flexibility and producing renewable energy. The study examines the synergy nexus of energy transition, green financing and renewable energy intensity in China based on thermal energy financial benefits. For power networks that need help incorporating variable renewable energy resources like wind and solar, CSP is the best solution. Considering its advantages, when looking solely at renewable energy generation, CSP's high initial cost frequently outweighs its benefits. This article examines two facets of the financial advantages of CSP in power networks that have a significant concentration of renewable energy: operational flexibility to support VRE and production of renewable energy. We evaluate the relative financial implications of a network with a significant proportion of VRE to one where some of the VRE production gets substituted by CSP in order to maintain a stable level of renewable energy saturation. A chronological operation simulation has been used in this work to assess the annual production costs of the power network. We estimate the advantages of CSP into two categories: flexibility advantages, which are the reduction in operational expenses from replacing VRE with CSP, and energy advantages, which are the savings from replacing VRE production. There is also a discussion about CSP's break-even investment cost.