Techno-economic assessment of technological improvements in thermal energy storage of concentrated solar power

[Display omitted] •The techno-economic analysis was done on the integrated concentrated solar power system.•Technological improvements in thermal storage are assessed based on process simulation.•The cost of energy can be largely reduced by changing the thermal storage media and tank type.•The required amount of salt can be saved at wider temperature range by reducing pumping requirement. The technological and economic impact of design changes in thermal energy storage of concentrated solar power (CSP) systems is assessed. It is shown that the system costs change with the types of storage tanks and also that the operation temperature is limited by the thermal properties of the thermal storage medium. In addition, the cost of energy can be substantially reduced by replacing the conventional power cycle with more advanced power cycles, such asa supercritical carbon dioxide power cycle. Using two types of thermal storage tanks and two thermal storage media, cases are generated incorporating combinations of the design options. A sensitivity analysis is used to investigate the impacts of each technological improvement. The results of this work will contribute to predicting the impact of research and improving the economics of the CSP system.