System-level simulation of a solar power tower plant with thermocline thermal energy storage.

Highlights: [•] Molten-salt thermocline tanks offer low-cost thermal energy storage for concentrating solar power plants. [•] A new thermocline tank model is developed to provide comprehensive thermal simulation at low computational cost. [•] The thermocline model is incorporated into a system model to study storage performance over long-term plant operation. [•] Yearlong simulation of a power tower plant indicates excellent storage performance with the thermocline tank concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]