Regulating Reserve via AGC and Spinning Reserve Opportunities for Gen IV Molten Salt Technologies

Abstract

This paper explores an opportunity for Gen IV reactors that use molten salt as a heat transfer medium to provide and be paid for frequency-keeping, regulating reserve, spinning reserve, and automatic generator control while maximizing the total volume of electricity sold. To achieve this, a small amount of thermal storage is integrated with a fast response turbine generator operating at 95 - 105% of nominal capacity. Over time the total volume of electricity sold is very close to 100% of the capacity of the facility. This facility would also be capable of operation at 110% of nominal maximum capacity for as long as thermal energy is available from storage. The costs and benefits of this opportunity are assessed in this paper. The potential uplift in revenue is in the order of $20M per annum for a nominal 1,000 MWe plant. The solution discussed can be adapted and applied to any Gen IV plants that have thermal storage capability at moderate cost.