Renewable energy suffers some drawbacks such as instantaneity, instability, and the mismatch between supply and demand during the utilization. Thermochemical heat storage exhibits distinct advantages, including high heat storage density, elevated heat storage temperature, and negligible heat loss during the long-term storage. It has the capability to convert intermittent energy sources into stable moderate and high temperature heat energy to fulfill the needs of fluctuating output. The classification, basic mechanisms and characteristics of thermochemical heat storage within reaction temperature range of 400~1 100 ℃ are reviewed. Subsequently, the thermal storage performance of typical thermochemical heat storage materials, such as carbonates, hydroxides, oxides, metal hydrides, ammonia and methane are analyzed, and the structural targeted regulation and modification methods are investigated, alongside the introduction of typical demonstration projects. Following this, the reactor design and system integration of solid-gas and gas-gas reaction systems are discussed. In the last, the future research interests are deliberated and proposed in the development and industrial application of thermochemical energy storage materials.

To study the effect of dust on performance of photovoltaic power generation, a laboratory bench was built to collect daily power generation data of clean and polluted photovoltaic strings while monitoring meteorological data to analyze the influence of dust accumulation and weather on power generation performance of photovoltaic modules. The results indicate that, the increase in PM_2.5 mass concentration in winter and the frequent occurrence of sandstorms in spring lead to a significant accumulation of dust on surface of the photovoltaic modules, resulting in a rapid increase in cumulative power generation losses. However, in summer, due to increased precipitation, dust is difficult to accumulate on photovoltaic modules, resulting in a slow increase in cumulative power generation losses. In addition, the DTW algorithm is employed to find similar days. Firstly, the entropy method is used to calculate the weights of each meteorological parameter. Then, the DTW values corresponding to each meteorological parameter on each historical day are calculated in reverse chronological order, multiplied by their weights, and added together to obtain the comprehensive DTW value for each historical day. By comparing the comprehensive DTW values of each historical day, the meteorological similar day that is closest to the current day is selected. In order to avoid extreme weather conditions, a portion of the dataset is selected as the validation set, and the criteria for finding similar days are optimized. The data from 9:00 to 15:00 each day is divided into three time periods for analysis, and the condition that the average solar irradiance is not less than 600 W/m² is set. After optimization, the evaluation index determination coefficient of the prediction model is 0.83, and the root mean square error is 0.22, indicating a significant improvement in prediction performance. Finally, the algorithm is used to develop a cleaning strategy for the photovoltaic power plant. After comparing the cumulative power generation loss with the cleaning cost, it is determined that the power plant should be cleaned every 28 days under long-term non rainfall conditions.

The P-U characteristic curve of a photovoltaic array exhibits multi-peak characteristics in partially shaded environments, leading to the inefficiency of conventional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm in tracking the maximum power. To address this issue, this paper proposes a two-layer control model for photovoltaic MPPT based on an improved tuned swarm optimization (TSO) algorithm. In the upper layer, the Levy flight strategy and polynomial mutation strategy are embedded into tuna algorithm, creating the Levy-polynomial mutation tuna swam optimization (LPTSO) to search for the global maximum power point. In the lower layer, the perturbation observation method is employed to locally track the global maximum power point, thereby reducing power oscillations in local shading environments. The two-layer control model is applied to the photovoltaic MPPT simulation system, and the simulation experimental results show that, for multi-peak MPPT control, the proposed model achieves significant improvements in convergence speed, tracking efficiency, power oscillations, etc. In conclusion, the proposed two-layer control model for photovoltaic MPPT effectively addresses the issue of maximum power tracking failure in partially shaded environments.

The effects of blending ratio and heating rate on co-combustion characteristics of municipal sludge and camellia oleifera shell were studied by thermogravimetric analysis, and the combustion kinetics of the samples were modeled by two methods, Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS). Moreover, the flammability index and comprehensive combustion characteristic index of various samples were calculated, and the interaction between the mixed fuel components during the combustion process was analyzed. The results show that, the burnout temperature of the mixed fuel significantly reduced, and the combustion stability and comprehensive combustion characteristics were significantly improved after the sludge was mixed with camellia oleifera shell. With the increase of the mass blending ratio of camellia oleifera shell from 20% to 80%, the burnout temperature decreased from 590 ℃ to 532 ℃, the burnout degree gradually increased, the mass loss increased from 63.13% to 92.19%, and the flammability index and comprehensive combustion characteristic index increased by 1.66 and 2.32 times, respectively. The interaction between the components of sludge and camellia oleifera shell mixed combustion occurred, which showed an inhibition effect in the volatile combustion stage, while a promoting effect in the fixed carbon combustion stage. The average apparent activation energies of sludge calculated by the FWO method and KAS method were 122.32 kJ/mol and 118.08 kJ/mol, respectively, and the average apparent activation energies of the camellia oleifera shell were 166.46 kJ/mol and 164.94 kJ/mol, respectively. The average apparent activation energy of the mixed samples increased with the mass mixing ratio of camellia oleifera shell.

In order to inhibit the flow separation on blade surface and improve the aerodynamic performance of the blade, the design scheme of installing vortex generator on the blade surface is proposed. Taking DU97-W-300 blade section with vortex generator as the research object, the orthogonal experimental design method is used to investigate the influences of height, length, installation angle, chord installation position, spacing and pitch of the vortex generator on the aerodynamic performance of the blade section, so as to determine the basic law of vortex generator parameter design. The results show that, the vortex generator parameters that affect the magnitude of aerodynamic performance of the blade are as follows: spacing, pitch, length, height, chord installation position, and installation angle of the vortex generator. The optimal vortex generator parameter combination law is: height of 0.75ξ (ξ is blade boundary layer thickness), length of 1.6ξ, installation angle of 20°, chord installation position is 10% blade chord length, spacing of 1.6ξ, pitch of 0.8ξ, which can increase the maximum lift coefficient of this blade by 40% and the maximum stall angle of attack by 9.5°.

To accurately assess the overall performance of integrated energy systems, with a focus on their key characteristics of low carbon emissions and high efficiency, and to facilitate the safe integration of renewable energy, this study proposes a weighted energy utilization efficiency index. The integrated energy system in industrial parks is identified as a typical scenario for the application of comprehensive energy. Considering the relatively low energy conversion efficiency of renewable sources in these systems, the study evaluates the performance of the renewable and fossil fuel energy systems using energy efficiency ratios and primary energy utilization rates. Moreover, the proportion of supplied energy is utilized as a weighting factor to indicate the system’s relative significance within the total energy framework, leading to the calculation of the weighted energy utilization efficiency for the park’s integrated energy system. Through comparative analysis with conventional metrics such as primary energy utilization rate and exergy efficiency, the results indicate that the proposed index can effectively reflect the level of renewable energy integration, showcasing the system’s core features of low carbon and high efficiency. This is crucial for directing strategies towards energy saving and consumption reduction.

Constructing a power system predominantly based on renewable energy sources imposes increasingly stringent demands on deep peak shaving capability and ultra-low-load operation of coal-fired power generating units, thereby presents more severe challenges to the safe operation of steam turbine units under low-load conditions. This paper employs numerical simulation methods, focusing on an in-depth analysis of the operational performance of the last stage of a steam turbine under low-load conditions, and explores various solutions for their working mechanisms and optimization effects under ultra-low-load conditions. It is found that, when the unit transitions from medium-low load to ultra-low load, vortex clusters such as gap vortices, backflow vortices, and separation vortices emerge near the last stage blades, with their extent gradually expanding as the load decreases. Reducing the back pressure of the unit and operating the low-pressure cylinder with cylinder-cutting are effective strategies to attenuate steam turbine vortex flow and enhance the last stage’s performance, with a combined application of these strategies yielding better results. For instance, under 20% turbine heat acceptance (THA) conditions, reducing the back pressure from 4.9 kPa to 2.5 kPa significantly diminishes the influence range of the last stage vortex cluster, increasing the rotor blade torque from −38 N·m to 73 N·m, thereby markedly improves the last stage performance. Under 10% THA conditions, employing a combination of reduced back pressure and low-pressure cylinder-cutting can completely eliminate the tip clearance vortex, with the radial lengths of the backflow vortices and separation vortices reducing by more than 50%. The optimized rotor blade torque increases by approximately 130 N·m, significantly enhancing the last stage performance.

In the system realizing waste heat utilization through thermal cycle, there is a mutual restriction relationship between the cycle thermal efficiency and the utilization rate of heat source, solving this problem is the key to build an efficient waste heat utilization system. Taking supercritical carbon dioxide cycle as an example, this paper constructs a new cycle, namely the partial expansion cycle, to broaden the waste heat absorption temperature range, so as to enhance the waste heat utilization rate. After coupling gas turbine exhaust, the waste heat utilization system’s power generation efficiency reaches 28.62%, the cycle thermal efficiency reaches 34.03%, and the heat source utilization rate reaches 84.11%. Moreover, to demonstrate the advantages of the partial expansion cycle, a waste heat utilization system is constructed based on the single regenerative Brayton cycle and the recompressed Brayton cycle. Furthermore, the three cycles are compared. Through calculation using the first and second law of thermodynamics, it is found that the power generation efficiency of the partial expansion cycle is higher than that of the other two classical cycles. Via analyzing the circulation process, it is found that the reason for the high efficiency of the partial expansion cycle is that the partial expansion structure broadens the endotherm temperature zone, makes the heat source utilization rate increase greatly, and thus improves the power generation efficiency.

By taking the test bench of a micro gas turbine cycle system as the research object, a mathematical model for regenerative cycle system of the micro gas turbine is established. On this basis, the performance prediction and analysis for the regenerative cycle system is carried out. Considering the performance parameters of the system’s key components are presently unknown, the maximum likelihood estimation method is employed to estimate them by using the experimental data. The results show that, the error between the model predicted value and the experimental value is smaller than 3%, indicating the model can accurately predict the thermal performance of the cycle. Subsequently, based on the established model, a performance simulation of the recuperative cycle is conducted under various working conditions. The variation rules of power, generation efficiency, exhaust gas energy, and exhaust gas temperature with the changes of load and ambient temperature are obtained, and the compressor’s operating range is also obtained. The information regarding the key components of the microturbine and the performance characteristics acquired through this study can serve as valuable references for related research.

To investigate the potential of carbon emission monitoring technology in optimizing thermal power unit operations beyond the “double control” of emissions in thermal power enterprises, an F-class gas-steam combined cycle unit where a CO₂ monitoring system is installed at the tail chimney is selected to be discussed. Research is conducted using online fuel monitoring data from the front pressure regulating station and flue gas monitoring data from the rear chimney environmental protection measurement point. The results reveal that, in the high-load section, the flue gas monitoring carbon emission rate is consistently higher than the fuel monitoring rate, although both curves exhibit similar trends, indicating comparable yet offsetting data. For units operating at medium loads, atmospheric conditions are crucial. Elevated temperatures may increase heat loss, while reduced air pressure can minimize compressor energy consumption, thereby decreasing the unit’s instantaneous carbon emission intensity. Among various parameters, adjusting the turbine expansion ratio, compressor pressure ratio, and steam fuel power ratio could be effective strategies to minimize carbon emissions without altering the unit load.