> The temperature swing can be much greater than 100 C.

No, because your steam will be at a lower temperature as you draw down the heat, bringing down efficiency.

adgjlsfhk1 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Realistic designs for this can achieve 450C delta t. Your energy store can store at ~1000C (slightly below rock melting point), and run steam turbines with a hot side of 600C and a cool side of 150C.

Over the season, your sand drops from ~1000 to ~600 (which is fine since your power needs drop in the spring)

	▲	cyberax 37 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Sorry, but 1000C is wildly unrealistic. There are no bulk materials that can be used to construct heat exchangers for this kind of environment. 600C is already a stretch. At 1000C steel will react with _water_. To be clear, I'm not talking about cooling a small crucible but a structure that is at least 20 meters in size.

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pfdietz 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That is wrong, and I already explained why.