Thermal Energy Storage System and Heat Pump Cycles for Industrial Heat Generation

An energy arbitrage system connected to an electric grid and configured to generate steam supplied to a facility, the energy arbitrage system comprising:

• a cascading heat pump system configured to generate the steam, wherein:
• the cascading heat pump system is connected and powered by at least the electric grid,
• the cascading heat pump system comprises a bottom heat pump cycle and a top heat pump cycle coupled by an intermediate heat exchanger configured to transfer heat from a first working fluid in the bottom heat pump cycle to a second working fluid in the top heat pump cycle,
• the bottom heat pump cycle comprises a first economizer and a bottom-cycle compressor to increase pressure of the first working fluid and to absorb heat from an ambient air source, and
• the top heat pump cycle comprises a second economizer, a steam generator, and a top-cycle compressor to increase pressure of the second working fluid and to transfer heat to a feed stream comprising water in the steam generator, thereby generating the steam;
• a boiler configured to generate steam;
• and
• a control system in communication with the cascading heat pump system and with the boiler, wherein:
• the control system comprises a processing device and a computer-readable medium with one or more executable instructions stored thereon, and
• the processing device is configured to execute one or more instructions to perform operations of (a) receive a steam demand from the facility, (b) generate and send a first set of instructions to the cascading heat pump system to provide for a first portion of the steam demand from the facility, and (c) generate and send a second set of instructions to the boiler to provide for a second portion of the steam demand from the facility.