Most commercial CSP plants use molten salt at 550°C for either heat transfer or energy storage purposes, as high-temperature molten salt has been shown to enhance both plant efficiency (e.g., 15%-17%) and thermal storage capacity. Available literature shows that most commercial CSP plants in Spain and the United States using synthetic oil as the transfer fluid and molten salt as the thermal energy storage technology are able to achieve a thermal storage capacity of around 7.5 hours, not mentioning that they can substantially improve the storage performance as well as raise the capacity factor by up to 50 percent (IEA-ETSAP and IRENA, 2013).

Most commercial CSP plants use molten salt at 550°C for either heat transfer or energy storage purposes, as high-temperature molten salt has been shown to enhance both plant efficiency (e.g., 15%-17%) and thermal storage capacity. Available literature shows that most commercial CSP plants in Spain and the United States using synthetic oil as the transfer fluid and molten salt as the thermal energy storage technology are able to achieve a thermal storage capacity of around 7.5 hours, not mentioning that they can substantially improve the storage performance as well as raise the capacity factor by up to 50 percent (IEA-ETSAP and IRENA, 2013).