Comment on Firebrick thermal energy storage could reach 170 GW in the U.S. by 2050

• InvertedParallax@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Ok, they’re claiming 98% rt efficiency.

  I don’t think we have 98% rt efficiency in anything, ever. That’s miraculous. Batteries are around 92% at best? Pumped hydro is 85% or so.

  That even sounds high for raw carnot efficiency.

  I mean, if so, wow, that’s awesome, and I don’t really doubt their 1% daily decay, that seems attainable.

  But 98% rt? I’m still skeptical.

  source

  • Morphit@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    It’s heat though. They’re turning electricity into heat then moving that heat to where it’s needed, when it’s needed. Making heat from electricity is nearly 100% efficient, and pumping losses for moving fluids are going to be tiny compared to the the amount of heat they can move. They quote the heat loss in storage seperately as 1% per day. It seems reasonable.

    source

    • InvertedParallax@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      I can buy all of it, near perfect heating, but 2% for their forced air circulation combined with turbine and generation losses? Seems too good to be true.

      Chatgpt (because we’re all lazy) :

      Total Thermal to Electrical Efficiency

      The overall thermal-to-electrical efficiency of a power plant, often referred to as plant efficiency, is the product of the steam turbine efficiency and the generator efficiency. Typical overall efficiencies for fossil-fuel-based steam turbine power plants (e.g., coal, natural gas) range from 33% to 40%.

      In more advanced configurations like combined cycle power plants, which recover waste heat from the steam turbine exhaust to generate additional electricity, efficiencies can reach 50% to 60%.

      Calculation Example:

      If the steam turbine has an efficiency of 40%, and the generator has an efficiency of 98%, the total thermal-to-electrical efficiency would be:

      \text{Total Efficiency} = 0.40 \times 0.98 = 0.392 \text{ or } 39.2%

      So, for every 100 units of thermal energy input, 39.2 units are converted into electrical energy.

      source

      • Morphit@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        They’re not converting it back into electricity, this is for industrial process heat. They have 100 units of electrical energy and 98 units go into whatever the industry needs to heat.

        Lots of industries use ovens kilns or furnaces. Mostly fueled by gas at the moment. Using electricity would be very expensive unless they can timeshift usage and get low spot prices. Since they need heat anyway, thermal storage is pretty cheap an efficient.

        source

        • -> View More Comments