Study of an HTGR-renewable Hybrid System for Grid Resilience

Abstract

This paper presents a high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR)-renewable hybrid system based on the GTHTR300C, a Generation IV commercial HTGR electricity and hydrogen cogeneration system designed by JAEA. The system is designed such that it is capable of providing electric grid stability by compensating for the characteristic effects of intermittent and perturbating performance of the renewable energy power generation. In particular, the system is shown, through a new design proposal, to enable grid resilience by enacting emergency power supply from using such unique features of the system as being able to rapidly modulate helium inventory and charging/discharging massive thermal capacity of the reactor core. The paper describes simulation result that demonstrate the technical feasibility and operational performance of the system.