Recent developments in geometrical configurations of thermal energy storage for concentrating solar power plant

Concentrating solar power plant coupling with thermal energy storage is a new and emerging technology in the renewable energy field. A multitude of research works focus on improving the performance of the power plant for getting the higher efficiency and lower cost. Due to the poor thermal conductivity of phase change materials and complex physical/chemical heat transfer process in the storage tank, geometrical configurations of the storage tank are vital for the system׳s performance, thus affect the large-scale application of concentrating solar power plant. This paper presents a review of geometrical configuration of thermal energy storage tank by summarizing a series of numerical, experimental and theoretical studies in the open literatures. A widespread discussion for thermal energy storage tank in future application has been proposed in the paper. The results can provide a good reference for designing, operating, and energy-saving of thermal energy storage system for concentrating solar power plants.