Green electricity from solar energy has achieved rapid development. However, solar power is intermittent and fluctuating, whereas industrial productions are generally continuous. To overcome the contradiction, either expensive large-scale energy storage technologies are deployed, or new industrial production processes are developed to adapt to the intermittent characteristics of solar energy. This approach may be referred to as the flexible production mode. Here, we propose a solar-to-iron flexible production system, which includes electrochemical ironmaking and iron-based energy power systems (iron–air batteries and iron powder combustion). The flexible electrochemical ironmaking system produces iron in the sunshine when there is renewable electricity and is also able to standby in the dark. The produced iron could be delivered for common needs or releases energy again by iron–air batteries or iron powder combustion. Such a loop may transform the current ironmaking technologies, reduce carbon dioxide emission, and accommodate peak-shaving/load-shifting concurrently.

中文翻译：

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灵活的太阳能发电系统：新概念及其实施

太阳能绿色电力取得快速发展。然而，太阳能是间歇性且波动的，而工业生产通常是连续的。为了克服这一矛盾，要么部署昂贵的大规模储能技术，要么开发新的工业生产工艺以适应太阳能的间歇性特性。这种方法可以称为柔性生产模式。在此，我们提出了太阳能制铁柔性生产系统，包括电化学炼铁和铁基能源动力系统（铁空气电池和铁粉燃烧）。灵活的电化学炼铁系统可以在有可再生电力的情况下在阳光下生产铁，也可以在黑暗中备用。产生的铁可以满足一般需求，也可以通过铁空气电池或铁粉燃烧再次释放能量。这样的循环可以改变当前的炼铁技术，减少二氧化碳排放，并同时适应调峰/负荷转移。