To improve the power generation efficiency of tower solar power station and reduce the coal consumption of thermal power units

the tower solar thermal system with molten salt heat storage device is coupled into the conventional coal-fired unit. Moreover

simulation on this coupling system is carried out. The research shows that

at the benchmark of 75% THA of the boiler load

the solar photothermal system side can bear 5%～15% of the heat transfer load

so that the coal-fired unit can run at 80%THA～90%THA load

and the coal consumption reduction rate increases from 5.76% to 15.54%. After the molten salt heat storage device is coupled into the coal-fired unit

the stable running time of the coupled unit can be prolonged by about 33% at 85% THA load

so that the entire coupling system can comsume more solar energy. The conclusion can be used as a reference for the study of the performance of tower solar compensated coal-fired thermal power units.