Efficient and market-based thermal energy storage of renewable energy

David Baldwin

SunLight Power, Inc.

Friday, March 11, 2016

11:00am

NW17-218

PSFC Seminars

Abstract: To penetrate the electric power market more than the 10-15% range, all renewable power generation sources require storage to match temporal supply with demand.  In addition, as for nearly all high-power generation sources today, the issue of the competing demands for fresh water makes their cooling-water requirements a paramount issue.  SLPI has developed a new approach to high temperature thermal energy storage, utilizing latent heat principles in common NaCl, vapor heat transport, a cooling-water-free Brayton-cycle turbine, and a modular approach that can be flexibly applied to customer needs - all at attractive cost.  The primary power source can be Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), for which the SLPI system is described, or wind/PV, which are discussed in less detail.

Bio: Dr. Baldwin received his B.S. and Ph.D. in plasma physics from MIT in 1958 and 1962, respectively. From 1962 to 1970 he held research and faculty positions at Stanford University, Culham Laboratory (England), and Yale University. In 1970 he joined Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as a theoretical plasma physicist for Magnetic Fusion Energy (MFE) and in 1986 became a Laboratory Associate Director for MFE. In 1988 he was named Professor of Physics and Director of the Institute for Fusion Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He returned to LLNL in 1991 as Associate Director for Energy. From 1995 to 2007, he held the position of Senior Vice-President, Energy Group, General Atomics (GA) in San Diego. In 2008 he joined SunLight Power, Inc., a new firm dedicated to high-temperature thermal storage and the advance of concentrated solar power, as Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operations Officer.