Integration of energy storage with hybrid solar power plants

Concentrated solar power (CSP) and photovoltaics (PV) systems integrated with energy storage have large potential to provide cost-competitive and baseload renewable energy. On the one hand, CSP with thermal energy storage (TES) is an affordable and dispatchable option. On the other hand, Electrical Energy Storage (EES) gives dispatchability to PV systems but at high costs due to current prices of EES systems, however an extreme reduction in EES costs is expected. Therefore, there could be a tipping point at which PV + EES becomes the best technology to provide dispatchable power. Here, we explore different scenarios, representing snapshots of technology investment costs according to published projections, in order to identify the dominant technology in a hybrid solar power plant that provides sustainable and dispatchable energy by 2050. The study uses our two-stage multi-objective optimisation framework, in order to optimise the design and operation of a hybrid power plant with energy storage. We found that nowadays CSP with TES is the most affordable technology, but a shift to PV with EES is expected mainly due to the large reduction in the cost of both PV and EES systems. Thus, the presented optimisation analysis can improve the strategies for the design of an effective and economic pathway to decarbonise the power sector.