Thermal Energy Storage

» Consider using idle FO tanks for refrigerated water thermal storage.

The Electronic Speed Switch of 725 kVA DG set (Caterpillar) has

problem again. Remaining DG sets are not adequate to cater to the total
running load.

First of all, generated power with a DG set is extremely expensive;

approx Rs. 18/kWh, three to four times the cost of NEA power.

Secondly, we do not have adequate capacity. Capacity adding is again

very expensive. In this context, we can utilize a technology called
“Thermal Energy Storage” to run the chiller at night or when there is NEA power & store it in
the ice form and run it during the peak hours when DG set is running.

In CUG, we have approx 300 TR HVAC&R system. With 1 kW/TR, approx 300 kW of load can
be rescheduled to NEA hours with the help of Thermal Energy Storage. That will make 725 kVA
DG set redundant in the present context.

Thermal Storage System saves the cost owing to tariff difference/rate difference (e.g. DG vs.
Grid), reduces Maximum Demand and hence the Maximum Demand charge releasing the
capacity from the system and improves operating efficiency of chillers. The concept of “Thermal
Energy Storage” is explained in the forthcoming pages.

Storing thermal energy for use at a later time is an excellent energy management strategy.
Thermal energy storage (TES) systems can store low-cost energy that is generated off-peak as an
electrical demand cost-control measure. But TES can also be used to hedge in competitive utility
markets for both electricity and gas, to reduce emissions, and to lower energy use.

Frequently, energy is available at one time but needed at another time. TES systems bridge the
two times. TES is a mature technology that has been used in a variety of applications ranging
from cooling and heating of buildings to cooling of gas turbine inlet air. Some TES systems have
been operating continuously and satisfactorily for over 30 years, and some manufacturers and
system designers have been in business throughout that period.

A classic TES application collects solar energy during the day for use in heating a building
during the night. Recently, it has become common to build cooling reserves during the utility
off-peak period for use during the following on-peak period. These applications result in reduced
energy cost and, frequently, decreased energy use as well.
When utility energy is used to operate heating or cooling equipment near design capacity and
unneeded output is stored for later use, the end user's equipment often runs at a more consistent
and efficient rate. The utility may also be able to optimize the use of its equipment. TES
operation that smoothes the load profile also reduces energy use, particularly in the case of
cooling equipment, because the chillers are operated more at times when they operate more
efficiently due to lower ambient wetbulb temperatures.

Alternatively, energy may be available at the discharge of a device or a process at a temperature

that is suitable for heating or cooling a space or another process, but the supply does not occur at
the same time as the demand. TES provides a means for storing the heating or cooling capacity
that might otherwise be wasted and making it available when it is needed. This application can
produce the benefits of reduced emissions, energy use, and cost.

In many installations, TES provides additional benefits. For example, the addition of TES to an
existing cooling system highlights the benefits of increasing the difference between chilled water
supply and return temperatures. This modification improves operation of the distribution portion
of the cooling system, increases thermal storage capacity, and reduces energy use by the chillers.

TES applications for buildings and processes require energy to be stored from only a few hours
up to a several days. Daily cycles are most frequently employed, but in some applications
heating-cooling units may be available to charge TES on weekends. The storage medium can be
designed and constructed to accommodate energy storage for several days.

Ice Storage System Conventional

TES Design

Above figure shows how TES may be incorporated in the

central plant portion of a cooling or heating system. The
heating or cooling system output may be routed either to
the distribution system that serves the load or to thermal
storage, or to both simultaneously.

Valves installed in the system are operated to route the

thermal energy. The heating-cooling unit may operate in
parallel with thermal storage to satisfy the
load, or the load may be satisfied entirely
by TES at one time and at another time
entirely by the unit.

The operating strategy depends on the

objectives of the system design and,
ultimately, on capital and operating costs.
The operating strategy may vary with time
due to seasonal weather variations or
increased loads resulting from changes or
additions to the facility.

A storage medium for thermal energy either Harvesting stored thermal energy
changes temperature-sensible energy storage-or
changes phases. Water or water-antifreeze
solutions are the most common TES media
currently used. They are used in both sensible and
phase-change types of storage. Eutectic salts are
employed only in phase-change storage. Solids are
used only in sensible storage, usually in
applications requiring small storage capacities.

In order to reduce tank size and cost, storage in

liquids is usually accomplished in stratified tanks
rather than in separate tanks for warmer and cooler
fluids. Stratification means that warmer liquid
floats on top of cooler liquid. This may be achieved
by using inlet and outlet diffusers as long as the
temperature of the liquid in storage does not
traverse the neutral buoyancy point, which is 4iC
for pure water and lower for water-antifreeze
solutions.

Phase-change storage for cooling can be

implemented in a variety of ways, all of which
require circulating water or an antifreeze
solution through the evaporator of a
refrigeration machine, or chiller. Storage
systems include freezing ice on arrays of tubes
inside tanks, freezing ice or eutectic salts
contained in capsules suspended in tanks, or
storing a slurry comprised of very small ice
particles suspended in a water-antifreeze
solution in a tank.
Stored thermal energy is lost over time due to the temperature difference between the storage
medium and its surroundings. The loss offsets energy savings and should be taken into
consideration. Insulation slows the rate of energy loss.

Mixing and heat transfer through the storage medium causes additional thermodynamic losses,
particularly for stratified sensible storage. However, recent experience shows that both heated
and cooled TES are capable of economically reducing the total energy used for heating and
cooling.

Common Configurations

According to an American Society of Heating,

Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers
(ASHRAE) survey:

 87% of the cooling systems using TES in the

U.S. uses ice, 10% used water, and 3% uses
eutectic salt as the storage medium
 The capacity of phase-change systems in the
survey ranges from 100 ton-hours to about
29,000 ton-hours
 The average capacity ranges from 3000 to
4000 ton-hours
 The capacity range for sensible storage
systems is 660 to 68,000 ton-hours
 The average capacity is 23,000 ton-hours

The study showed that there are more phase-

change storage systems and that they dominate
smaller applications. There are fewer sensible
storage systems using liquid media, but sensible
storage systems dominated in larger applications.

Costs and Benefits

Utility rate structures offer lower energy prices

during off-peak periods when the demand for
power is less and the demand for cooling or
heating is usually lower. TES reduces operating
costs by taking advantage of the lower utility
energy rates. Figure 2 illustrates the variation of the cooling required by a building over a 24-
hour cycle of operation and the resulting variation in total electric power used by the building.

Electric utilities may offer reduced rates during off-peak periods to encourage improved use of
their base load capacity, which is more efficient than their peak units. The utility's off-peak
period may not be the same as the facility's, but they often overlap enough to justify the
 application. Consequently, the cooling equipment for the facility may be operated at full capacity
during the lower rate, off-peak period to charge thermal storage, and partially or completely shut
down during the higher rate, on-peak period.

Commercial and industrial rates commonly have peak demand and energy rate components. In
many cases, end users can reduce utility cost simply by shifting the operation of cooling
equipment partially or completely from the facility peak period to its off-peak period, reducing
peak demand and the accompanying demand charges.

Savings in energy cost may be used to amortize any additional capital cost of thermal storage. In
many instances, the initial cost of a system with TES is no greater than one without TES. Capital
costs of TES are often offset in a variety of ways. For cooling systems, chiller size and cost can
be reduced by the chiller's increased operation at design capacity. Ancillary equipment can be
downsized, including pumps, cooling towers, and the electrical service for these items.
Present Electrical Profile
The strategies employed in designing and operating
a system using thermal storage affect how much
capital cost can be reduced. Considering TES early
in the conceptual design phase makes capital cost
reduction more likely to be realized.

The first cost of additional chillers to expand the

capacity of an existing cooling system makes the
first cost of TES particularly attractive. Chiller size
determines capital cost-the larger the unit, the
higher the cost. TES also offers capital cost
benefits to systems producing a variety of outputs-
heating, cooling, and electrical power.

Heated TES can also offset capital costs. For example, heat recovery chillers may be used with
TES to reduce boiler capacity and to produce savings in the costs of both the heating equipment
and the associated fuel supply system.

Applications having relatively short periods of high

thermal load coinciding with high utility rate
periods are ideal candidates for TES. Examples
include sports facilities, auditoriums, churches, and
some industrial processes. With proper design and
operation, these applications will always produce
savings in operating cost, and they may well
achieve savings in capital cost, too.

 Reduced capital cost

 Reduced operating costs Off-Peak Cooling Electrical Profile
 Improved building comfort
 Increased asset value
 Better for the environment
 Reduces Peak Demand at most critical time 20-40%
 Reduces consumer’s energy costs 10-20%
 May reduce energy usage at the building up to 14%
 Reduces source energy usage at power plant 8-34%
 Reduces emissions up to 50%
 Increases Load Factor of Generation up to 25%

The benefits of Ice Thermal Storage Retrofit Projects are given below:
 Increase cooling capacity without increasing electrical
requirements
 Provides operational flexibility
 Add cooling capacity without increasing
 Building transformer
 Switch gear
 Motor control center
Other Benefits

The utility that serves a customer with TES benefits

from the storage system too. The utility can better utilize
its base load electrical generation plants. As a result,
load can be met with less generation and distribution capacity.

Thermal storage can be installed at a customer facility

at lower cost than the cost to the utility of installing
additional generating capacity. This explains why
utilities have offered incentives in the form of partial
payment of the capital cost of TES installations as part
of demand-side management programs.

Recently, however, due to increased competition in the

electric utility industry, most utility companies have
discontinued this incentive.

The electric utility also realizes other energy savings.

As stated previously, TES for cooling increases chiller
use during the cooler portions of the day and at night,
when chillers operate more efficiently. Additional on-site energy savings may be achieved by
using heated TES, which reduces both energy use and combustion emissions when heat recovery
is employed.

As limits on emissions become more stringent, interest in TES to reduce on-site and power plant
emissions will increase. Existing emissions regulations may make it desirable to reduce on-site
energy use in new construction. In addition to emission reductions due to increased efficiency,
smaller chillers with TES systems tend to lose less refrigerant.

TES produces a more forgiving heating and cooling system and gives the system operator more
operating flexibility. Not only can utility energy be drawn at times that are more advantageous
for the user, but heating or cooling loads can continue to be satisfied even if a heating or cooling
unit is off-line temporarily due to equipment failure or for periodic maintenance. TES may allow
a user to take advantage of spot retail utility rates that have been proposed as a means of
dampening fluctuations in wholesale electrical prices. With this strategy a facility owner could
also consider interruptible power for heating and cooling equipment.

TES tanks containing water can be used as auxiliary reservoirs for fire protection systems. If the
reservoir is located at a high point in the distribution system, gravity feed may suffice for this
application, thus offering an added level of security. On the other hand, using an existing fire
protection reservoir can help reduce the capital cost of a retrofit TES system.

The Changing Scene

Historically, the utility cost savings achieved by the use of TES, particularly for cooling, were
dominated by reduced demand charges. Time-of-use utility rates have offered savings in energy
charges as well. More recently, utilities have offered real-time pricing (RTP) electric rates.

Savings from TES systems are higher with RTP rates because the TES can carry the load through
short periods of unusually high cost. Lately, California and other service areas have experienced
this condition regularly. This is the ideal condition for application of TES.

However, calculating RTP savings is difficult because the level and duration of these price
spikes are highly variable and difficult to predict. However difficult to calculate, TES can
generate the savings required to justify these applications.

Until recently, utility companies supported thermal storage in various ways, including
encouraging users to consider thermal storage, providing design advice, paying portions of the
capital cost of installations, and supporting research on TES technology. Heightened competition
in the electric utility industry has severely reduced these forms of support.

Clearly, the TES market is in flux. Reduced external support requires TES to stand on its own
merits economically, but the technology offers a low-risk, high-reward energy management
option.

Thermal Storage Options

 Chilled Water – large space requirements
 Ice – most popular (Recommended)
 Eutectic Salts – more expensive than ice
Thermal Energy Storage Myths
 Too much space
 Too expensive
 Too much energy
 Too complicated
The size of the chillers required for an ice thermal storage system is significantly reduced when
compared to conventional chillers. Chiller size is typically reduced to approximately 50% to 60%
of the peak cooling load. If TES is implemented in The plant, one chiller out of 3 will be easily
released as completely redundant. Reduction in total connected load will be from 150 kW of the
conventional system to 100 kW of the ice TES system. The savings from transformers, starters,
wiring and utility is not included here.
Ice Thermal Storage Uses Less Energy. It reduces refrigeration unit consumption by 15%.
During the day, Chillers operate at higher supply temperatures and greater efficiency when piped
upstream of the ice storage. During the night, the ambient temperatures are lower, and hence the
Chiller efficiency will be good.