Value of Concentrated Solar Power with Thermal Energy Storage in the National Electricity Market of Australia

The concentrated solar power (CSP) with thermal energy storage (TES) is considered as one of the promising renewable technologies for achieving Australia's renewable energy targets. The dispatchability of CSP plants with TES can provide grid flexibility by shifting energy over the time. In this paper the ability of TES to improve the value of CSP plants is examined by production cost simulation (PCS) of the NEM using PLEXOS software. The impacts of variations in the size of solar field (i.e. solar multiple-SM) and the size of TES on the operation benefit of CSP plant are also examined.