Innovative concentrated photovoltaic thermal (CPV/T) system with combined hydrogen and MgO based storage

The intermittency of renewable energy resources which only have localized availability with low energy density, is the main reasons for our reliance on conventional fossil fuels. If steady supply and high energy quality can be achieved then solar energy potential is enough to meet the global energy demand. Heat and electricity both are equally important forms of derived energies. In this paper, an innovative configuration of solar energy system for simultaneous need of electricity and high grade thermal energy, is presented and discussed along with the long term energy storage solution. The proposed CPV/T system, with hydrogen based electrical and MgO based thermal storage, can produce electricity and high-temperature thermal energies at efficiency of 30% and 70% respectively. The CPV-Hydrogen configuration achieved Solar to Hydrogen efficiency of 19%. On the other hand, the MgO based TES system obtained 80% material storage efficiency at 400 °C which can be easily achieved with the concentrated thermal energy density of 240 Suns.