1. Date of download: 6/10/2016 Copyright © ASME. All rights reserved. From: Economic Optimization of a Concentrating Solar Power Plant With Molten-Salt Thermocline Storage J. Sol. Energy Eng. 2013;136(1):011015-011015-8. doi:10.1115/1.4025516 Schematic illustration of a molten-salt thermocline tank, including the porous quartzite rock bed and the liquid heel. Hot salt is supplied at the liquid heel through the top manifold and is extracted via the hot pump. Cold salt enters the porous bed through the bottom manifold but is also extracted through the manifold via the cold pump. Figure Legend:

2. Date of download: 6/10/2016 Copyright © ASME. All rights reserved. From: Economic Optimization of a Concentrating Solar Power Plant With Molten-Salt Thermocline Storage J. Sol. Energy Eng. 2013;136(1):011015-011015-8. doi:10.1115/1.4025516 Steam generators and steam Rankine cycle layout. LP is the low pressure pump and HP is the high pressure pump. Figure Legend:

3. Date of download: 6/10/2016 Copyright © ASME. All rights reserved. From: Economic Optimization of a Concentrating Solar Power Plant With Molten-Salt Thermocline Storage J. Sol. Energy Eng. 2013;136(1):011015-011015-8. doi:10.1115/1.4025516 Annual solar thermal energy discarded due to thermocline tank energy saturation. Values are normalized with respect to the total amount of sunlight available for collection. Plant performance corresponds to weather data recorded near Barstow, CA, for the year 1977. Figure Legend:

4. Date of download: 6/10/2016 Copyright © ASME. All rights reserved. From: Economic Optimization of a Concentrating Solar Power Plant With Molten-Salt Thermocline Storage J. Sol. Energy Eng. 2013;136(1):011015-011015-8. doi:10.1115/1.4025516 Annual power tower plant capacity factor. Plant output increases with both solar multiple and thermocline tank energy capacity. Figure Legend:

5. Date of download: 6/10/2016 Copyright © ASME. All rights reserved. From: Economic Optimization of a Concentrating Solar Power Plant With Molten-Salt Thermocline Storage J. Sol. Energy Eng. 2013;136(1):011015-011015-8. doi:10.1115/1.4025516 Annual capacity factor normalized with respect to the theoretical maximum for each solar multiple Figure Legend:

6. Date of download: 6/10/2016 Copyright © ASME. All rights reserved. From: Economic Optimization of a Concentrating Solar Power Plant With Molten-Salt Thermocline Storage J. Sol. Energy Eng. 2013;136(1):011015-011015-8. doi:10.1115/1.4025516 Annual thermocline tank storage effectiveness. All cases exhibit effectiveness above 99%, validating the thermocline storage concept for implementation in long-term CSP applications. Figure Legend:

7. Date of download: 6/10/2016 Copyright © ASME. All rights reserved. From: Economic Optimization of a Concentrating Solar Power Plant With Molten-Salt Thermocline Storage J. Sol. Energy Eng. 2013;136(1):011015-011015-8. doi:10.1115/1.4025516 Levelized cost of electricity for a 100 MW e power tower plant with thermocline energy storage. Minimum LCOE is observed at a solar multiple of 3 and thermocline energy capacity of 16 hours. Figure Legend:

8. Date of download: 6/10/2016 Copyright © ASME. All rights reserved. From: Economic Optimization of a Concentrating Solar Power Plant With Molten-Salt Thermocline Storage J. Sol. Energy Eng. 2013;136(1):011015-011015-8. doi:10.1115/1.4025516 Individual power tower plant costs at the minimum LCOE of 12.2 ¢/kWh e. Heliostats incur the largest plant capital cost and require improvement to achieve grid parity with fossil fuel. Figure Legend: