Modular Solar Storage System for Medium Scale Energy Demand Mining in the North of Chile

The current legal framework for the development of renewable energies in Chile offers very favorable conditions for small scale electric generation systems. Incentives range from tariff exemptions on distribution and up to a 5% guaranteed supply rights to regulated customers. Such conditions allow for a viable and fast growing environment for the developments of those generation systems based on the CSP which incorporate optimized storage systems. These systems are likely to play a vital role in meeting the increasing demand for energy from the copper mining sector in the north of Chile as well as that of the smaller electricity networks and local communities.In this direction, the University of Antofagasta, Chile, has developed the implementation and construction of a modular solar storage system, using new ternary and quaternary nitrate mixtures, where in addition to collecting the heat of industrial/mining processes and store them for later use, proposes its implementation in isolated rural systems in the Chilean Norte Grande.The new ternary and quaternary Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF), designed with the addition of Ca(NO3)2 and LiNO3 to solar salt, shows a work temperature range of 130 to 600 °C. This temperature range, together with the adequate heat capacity of salt and the potential for storage approximately 175 kWh per day to this system, making it suitable to meet the demands of evaluated areas. The economic viability of these new salts has been analyzed taking into account the sources of nitrates in the country, as well as the cost for storage density offered by these new fluids.