Imperial College London
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DrMarkoAunedi

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Visiting Researcher
 
 
 
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m.aunedi

 
 
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Location

 

1108gElectrical EngineeringSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Al:2022:10.1016/j.enconman.2022.115484,
author = {Al, Kindi A and Aunedi, M and Pantaleo, A and Strbac, G and Markides, C},
doi = {10.1016/j.enconman.2022.115484},
journal = {Energy Conversion and Management},
title = {Thermo-economic assessment of flexible nuclear power plants in future low-carbon electricity systems: Role of thermal energy storage},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2022.115484},
volume = {258},
year = {2022}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The increasing penetration of intermittent renewable power will require additional flexibility from conventional plants, in order to follow the fluctuating renewable output while guaranteeing security of energy supply. In this context, coupling nuclear reactors with thermal energy storage could ensure a more continuous and efficient operation of nuclear power plants, while at other times allowing their operation to become more flexible and cost-effective. This study proposes options for upgrading a 1610-MWel nuclear power plant with the addition of a thermal energy storage system and secondary power generators. The total whole-system benefits of operating the proposed configuration are quantified for several scenarios in the context of the UK’s national electricity system using a whole-system model that minimises the total system costs. The proposed configuration allows the plant to generate up to 2130 MWel during peak load, representing an increase of 32% in nominal rated power. This 520 MWel of additional power is generated by secondary steam Rankine cycle systems (i.e., with optimised cycle thermal efficiencies of 24% and 30%) and by utilising thermal energy storage tanks with a total heat storage capacity of 1950 MWhth. Replacing conventional with flexible nuclear power plants is found to generate whole-system cost savings between £24.3m/yr and £88.9m/yr, with the highest benefit achieved when stored heat is fully discharged in 0.5 h. At an estimated cost of added flexibility of £42.7m/yr, the proposed flexibility upgrades to such nuclear power plants appears to be economically justified with net system benefits ranging from £4.0m/yr to £31.6m/yr for the examined low-carbon scenarios, provided that the number of flexible nuclear plants in the system is small. This suggests that the value of this technology is system dependent, and that system characteristics should be adequately considered when evaluating the benefits of diffe
AU  - Al,Kindi A
AU  - Aunedi,M
AU  - Pantaleo,A
AU  - Strbac,G
AU  - Markides,C
DO  - 10.1016/j.enconman.2022.115484
PY  - 2022///
SN  - 0196-8904
TI  - Thermo-economic assessment of flexible nuclear power plants in future low-carbon electricity systems: Role of thermal energy storage
T2  - Energy Conversion and Management
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2022.115484
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/96101
VL  - 258
ER  -
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