TY  - EJOU
AU  - Wang, Yanyong 
AU  - Zhong, Kunpeng 
AU  - Wang, Xiaoguang 

TI  - Solar	Energy	Storage	in	Deep	Saline	Aquifers:	Three-Dimensional	HydroThermo	Modeling	and	Feasibility	Analyses
T2  - The International Conference on Computational \& Experimental Engineering and Sciences

PY  - 2023
VL  - 26
IS  - 1
SN  - 1933-2815

AB  - The	storage	of	solar	energy	in	the	subsurface	in	terms	of	heat	is	considered	as	a	promising	way	for	energy	
storage	and	conversion	in	future,	which	has	a	great	potential	to	solve	the	temporal	and	spatial	mismatch	
between	energy	demand	and	supply.	Thermal	energy	storage	in	deep	saline	aquifers	is	capable	to	convert	
intermittent	solar	energy	into	high	temperature	stable	geothermal	energy.	In	this	study,	we	propose	a	new	
solar	 energy	 storage	 and	 conversion	 system	 in	 which	 solar	 energy	 is	 firstly	 converted	 into	 heat	 using	
parabolic	trough	and	then	thermal	energy	storage	in	deep	saline	aquifer	is	conducted	by	high	temperature	
hot	 water	 circulation.	 The	 feasibility	 and	 efficiency	 of	 solar	 energy	 storage	 in	 deep	 saline	 aquifer	 are	
quantified	 and	 evaluated	 by	 geostatistical	 modelling	 and	 hydro-thermo	 coupling	 simulations,	 and	 the	
influences	of	rock	permeability	heterogeneity	(in	terms	of	autocorrelation	length	and	global	permeability	
heterogeneity)	 on	 temporal	and	 spatial	evolution	 of	 temperature	 distribution	and	 storage	efficiency	are	
comprehensive	 explored.	 The	 simulation	 results	indicate	 that	 the	increase	 of	 horizontal	 autocorrelation	
length	and	global	heterogeneity	may	accelerate	the	breakthrough	of	hot	water	into	production	well,	which	
will	deteriorate	the	thermal	energy	storage	efficiency.	In	addition,	injection	of	hot	water	into	saline	aquifers	
with	severe	global	heterogeneity	may	suffer	a	high	injection	pressure.	Saline	aquifers	with	small	horizontal	
autocorrelation	lengths	and	low	global	heterogeneity	tend	to	have	a	high	storage	efficiency.	The	findings	of	
this	study	can	deepen	the	understanding	of	the	mechanism	of	solar	energy	storage	in	saline aquifers,	and	
provide	important	guidance	to	its	field	application.
KW  - Solar energy; geothermal	energy; thermal	energy	storage; saline	aquifer; hydro-thermo	coupling

DO  - 10.32604/icces.2023.09443