PV farms deliver power only when the sun shines. But people need power all the time. Also, peak demand is usually in the evening or early morning when PV is not operating. Conventional batteries can help somewhat, but they’re expensive and can’t carry the PV system through the night. During bad weather, the system produces nothing. What can be done to enable a PV farm to operate every hour of the year?
OUR SOLUTION 
HeatStorE™ overnight heat battery with 24/7 dispatchability
247Solar’s HeatStorE™ long-duration thermal battery converts electricity from wind turbines to heat and stores it for 9 hours or more in inexpensive materials like sand or iron slag. Yet, HeatStorE operates almost exactly like conventional electrochemical batteries. And uniquely, HeatStorE provides guaranteed power even when fully discharged. The system provides its own backup by burning almost any locally-available fuel, including hydrogen, when its thermal storage is depleted. HeatStorE furnishes round-the-clock baseload power to enable wind farms to deliver 24/7 clean electricity.
Benefits include
- Clean power overnight and in any weather
- Load shifting of 8 hours or more to avoid demand charges
- Eliminates gensets by acting as its own backup
- Creates a revenue stream where PV oversupply is substantial and electricity costs are negative
- Low maintenance and operating costs
- No safety or environmental hazards
EXAMPLE
Because a grid in South Australia includes so much PV and wind during the day, it curtails the solar output of an Australian 400kW PV farm by 30-35%. In fact, there is so much excess power on the grid that the utility pays users to take it (negative LCOE). Conversely, during evening and early morning peaks when the sun is not shining, the grid pays a premium for power.
Energy Requirements
- 200kW long-lasting electricity storage to capture excess grid power, harness otherwise-curtailed energy from PV, and facilitate load-shifting overnight
Solution
- A single 247Solar 200kWe, 1.8MWH HeatStorE™ long-duration thermal battery
Outcome
- Up to AU$100,000 additional revenue per year for the PV farm
- New revenue stream from grid operator
- Fully utilized output from PV
- Lower overall electricity costs due to load-shifting
Contact: info@247solar.com