Analysis and Comparison of different types of Thermal Energy Storage Systems: A Review

Emissions of harmful gases by various domains have become an issue of concern in many countries. CO2 is one such harmful gas which requires a serious attention. It can cause hazardous effects on the environment if left unchecked. There are various measures which are carried out recently in order to slash these emissions. Renewable energy sources and energy efficiency are the two areas which are of interest to the researchers in tackling these problems. Here, in this paper the emphasis is on Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technology. TES stores the thermal energy obtained by heating or cooling a storage medium. Later this energy can be used in heating and cooling applications as well as power generation systems. Environmental hazards can be minimized, peak demand and energy consumption can be reduced, more efficient systems can be facilitated and are cost effective. The share of renewable energy can be increased by the way of such thermal energy storage. Similar to other technologies TES also has some hurdles that prevent them from entering the market. Performance and cost are the main factors to be addressed. For an efficient implementation of TES extensive research and analysis is required. This paper mainly focuses on principles, assessment and comparison of TES and its varieties. Advances in this field are also discussed.