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The present work performs a thermodynamic analysis of a hybrid CSP – PV plant characterized by a particle tower CSP running a supercritical CO2 power unit and a PV field. The two plants are hybridized by employing a particle electrical heater that allows to store the electricity produced in excess by the PV field as thermal energy in the CSP storage. The PV production is compensated by the CSP plant to achieve the maximum power that can be injected into the grid (25 MW). The main key performance indicators considered in this analysis are the capacity factor, the share of energy wasted, the annual energy yield, the electric heater utilization factor, and the share of TES charged by the electric heater. The influence of the plant solar multiple, storage size, PV nominal size, electric heater efficiency, and electric heater capacity has been assessed through different sensitivity analyses. The results show that it is worth hybridizing the system, indeed the solar power plant operates during summer continuously day and night, exploiting the advantages of the two technologies, while limiting their drawbacks. Plant configurations leading to a capacity factor higher than 81% with a share of energy wasted limited to 5% can be identified. The electric heater capacity and efficiency are shown to be highly important parameters, highlighting the need for further component development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a laboratory scale 50kWhth prototype of an innovative radial flow packed bed thermal energy storage. The proposed storage has an inward radial heat transfer fluid flow during charge and a reverted fluid flow, by means of a valve arrangement, during discharge. The storage unit is equipped with differential pressure gauges, mass flow controller and 50 K-thermocouples to accurately measure the thermodynamic behavior of the unit. In order to assess the performance of the proposed thermal energy storage design two specific indicators have been introduced and defined, namely: the temperature uniformity, and the hydrodynamic uniformity. The results of preliminary CFD studies show a maximum temperature deviation of 20°C along the storage axial direction and uniformity indexes higher than 90%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work performs a techno-economic analysis of a hybrid CSP – PV plant composed of a molten salt tower CSP running a supercritical CO2 power unit and a PV field. The two plants are connected in parallel, behind the meter. The PV unit produces power during daylight. The CSP plant stores thermal energy during the day to enable stable production during cloudy periods and enlarges the plant capacity factor while producing during the night. The plant performances have been evaluated in terms of capacity factor, thermal energy storage utilization factor, capital expenditure, and Levelised Cost of Electricity. The influence of plant solar multiple, storage size, supercritical CO2 nominal size, PV relative nominal size, receiver thermal efficiency, CO2 power unit, and PV cost assumptions has been assessed through different sensitivity analyses. The results show that it is worth hybridizing the system, indeed the PV unit can provide low-cost renewable power during the day, while the CSP unit can provide a cheap storage technology. Plant configurations leading to a Levelised Cost of Electricity lower than 70 $/MWhe can be identified already at relatively low nominal power size, 15 MWe. The receiver thermal efficiency is shown to be a highly important assumption, highlighting the need for further component development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work performs a techno-economic analysis of an innovative solar-hybrid combined cycle composed of a topping gas turbine coupled to a bottoming packed bed thermal energy storage at the gas turbine exhaust, which runs in parallel to a bottoming steam cycle. Plant performances have been evaluated in terms of the capacity factor, the specific CO2 emissions, the capital expenditure, and the Levelised Cost of Electricity. The influence of the combustion chamber outlet temperature, solar multiple and energy storage capacity has been assessed by means of a sensitivity analysis. The present study also compares the previously listed performance against that of conventional molten salt tower Concentrating Solar Power plants and traditional combined cycle gas turbine power plants with equivalent installed capacities and load factors. The results show that it is worth hybridizing the system, particularly at high combustion chamber outlet temperature, large storage size and solar multiple. Furthermore, plant configurations leading to a Levelised Cost of Electricity lower than 110 $/MWh can be achieved for a capacity factor of about 60%. Under these working conditions, the proposed configuration would be only 1.66 times more costly than an equivalent size CCGT. At the same time, it would yield less than half of the emissions of the latter. Simultaneously, the proposed layout is considerably cheaper than an equivalent molten salt Concentrating Solar Power plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work performs a techno-economic analysis of a purely solar driven combined cycle composed of a solar air receiver directly connected to a topping gas turbine coupled to a bottoming packed bed thermal energy storage at the gas turbine exhaust, which runs in parallel to a bottoming steam cycle. Capacity factor, capital expenditure, and Levelised Cost of Electricity have been considered to assess the plant performance. A sensitivity analysis has been performed in order to understand the influence of solar multiple, energy storage capacity and gas turbine expansion ratio over the plant key performance indicators. The results show that the studied solar driven combined cycle is more costly than conventional ones, and therefore it leads to higher Levelized Cost of Electricity. However, it enables a complete reduction of CO2 emissions and increased flexibility in the system with the help of the introduction of an intermediate packed bed thermal energy storage. Furthermore, large solar multiple, medium storage capacity and complete expansion ratio through the gas turbine enable enhanced system performance. Finally, further works including optimized dispatch algorithms could enable a proper evaluation of the economic profit given by the flexibility offered by the storage unit and by a potential control of the Brayton cycle recuperation level in the modified plant layouts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work assesses the thermodynamic performance of an indirect supercritical CO2 – air driven concentrated solar plant with a packed bed thermal energy storage. A specific focus has been devoted to the flexibility requirements on both air and supercritical loops, highlighting key limitations and challenges that need to be addresses prior fruitful development of proposed cycles. The introduced plant design enables a supercritical CO2 turbine inlet temperature of 800°C, overcoming the temperature limits imposed by the use of solar molten salts as primary heat transfer fluid. Furthermore, the packed bed thermal energy storage permits the decoupling between thermal power collection from the sun and electricity generation. Besides, it grants operational flexibility and enlarges the plant capacity factor. Results show that the proposed indirect supercritical CO2 – air driven with a packed bed thermal energy storage concentrated solar plant leads to improved thermodynamic performance with respect to the molten salts driven design, particularly when working at high temperature, above molten salts limit. Enhancements in the power cycle efficiency and in the overall electricity production can be achieved, with a consequent increase of the capacity factor. Furthermore, the proposed system seems viable for the coupling with other power sources as PVs or secondary, low temperature, power cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work deals with the thermodynamic analysis of four different integration schemes for a packed bed thermal energy storage in a Stirling – CSP system. Simplified models for the different systems’ configurations have been developed and analyzed in steady and transient working conditions. Particularly, a parallel and serial connection between the power and the storage unit have been compared, showing a trade-off between the contemporaneity of power production and storage and the usefulness of the storage itself accordingly to the working temperature constraints for the power unit. It is shown that a closed parallel system configuration is the most promising solution as it allows for a longer production during night time and an higher net energy production, it is therefore worth of further investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work deals with the initial design and performance evaluation of a novel thermal energy storage concept consisting of a packed bed of rocks with a radial gas flow, suitable for the a generation of air-driven concentrating solar power plants. In doing so, this article also presents a state of the art of most promising packed bed concepts, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages, all considered in the design of the new proposed system. A thermomechanical model of the concept was developed and used in simulations to assess its behavior during both charging and discharging processes, as well as to evaluate the influence of critical design parameters. This same model was used to compare the technical performance of the concept against that of more conventional packed-beds with axial-flow. Results show that the novel concept is able to outperform the other systems by enabling a theoretical reduction of 46% and 50% in radiation losses and pressure drops, respectively, thus calling for future investigations, including an in-depth thermosmechanical study and life-cycle analysis of the concept prior to building a lab-scale prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research focuses on modeling of solar thermal driven fuel production plant with CO2 and H2O as raw materials to produce synthetic gas (syngas) which is converted into hydrocarbons through Fischer-Tropsch process either with Fe and Co catalyst to produce diesel, gasoline and kerosene. The solar reactor uses cerium oxide (CeO2) as a metal-redox and operates at 1773 K and 1300 K for reduction and oxidation step respectively under non-stoichiometric condition. The plant is analyzed by performing a quasi-steady state simulation under boundary condition that the Fischer-Tropsch reactor should operate with the capacity factor of 0.95 or 8350 hours annually. A storage tank is used to store and regulate the flow of syngas going into the Fischer-Tropsch reactor. Sensitivity analysis is carried out, particularly on solar reactor conversion and solid-to-solid heat exchanger efficiency. Another sensitivity analysis is to combine PV and CSP as the external electricity source. The production cost is finally calculated using annuity method with constant discount rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a methodology to quantify the market potential for a novel distributed CSP technology with thermal energy technology. The system in question relies on the Stirling engine for power production, which is fed by heat collected from a heliostat field and stored in an integrated latent heat storage unit. Selected countries in the MENA region are investigated to identify best prospective business cases for such a technology. With a global market potential above 40 GW in the whole MENA, industrial sectors such as mining and cement hold the best prospects in terms of market share. The achievable costs of generation vary depending on the DNI of the sites considered but prove to be lower compared with conventional distributed generation (diesel gensets or PV-BEES). However, several countries in the MENA, although having high DNI resource, still offer low electricity utility prices to industrial customers for distributed CSP to become competitive with on-grid electricity procurement. A scenario analysis coupled with a multi criteria selection of the optimal business case quantifies the amount of subsidies necessary to reach competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solar receiver tubes work under the highest temperatures and heat flux conditions, being their thermomechanical design critical to assure a safe and durable operation. Finite Element Analyses are traditionally utilized to assess the stresses for lifetime calculations. However, the real boundary conditions for these analyses are not well known yet. Thereby, this paper presents an experimental and numerical study to determine more realistic boundary conditions. Firstly, four deflection measurements are measured simultaneously by high-accuracy laser meters. Secondly, three types of boundary conditions are simulated trying to fit the experimental deflections: fixed, elastic and remote displacement. Finally, the stresses at critical regions are compared for each simulation. The results show that, unlike fixed support, remote displacement boundary conditions can obtain realistic deflection results but must be re-adjusted for each specific support, and elastic support fails to capture the manifold rotations. Using remote displacement stress results as reference for the case under study, fixed support leads to deviations in the stresses of at least 50% whilst elastic support can provide some similar stress results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work deals with the techno-economic analysis of a novel combined power cycle consisting of a molten-salt solar tower power plant with storage supported by additional heat provided from the exhaust of a topping gasturbine unit. A detailed model has been elaborated using in house simulation tools that simultaneously encompass meteorological, demand and required dispatch data. A range of possible designs are evaluated for a suitable location with both good solar resource and vast natural gas resources in order to show the trade-offs between the objectives of achieving low carbon-intensive and economically competitive designs. These were compared against more conventional integrated solar combined cycles of equivalent capacity factors. It is shown that the novel concept is worth further investigating as it is able to outperform the more conventional cycle while simultaneously offering additional flexibility to grid-operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parabolic trough configurations account for 95% of the current installed concentrating solar power (CSP) capacity. Certainly this technology is considered as the most mature among other CSP types. However, regardless of its maturity, the pursuit of cost competitiveness with respect to fossil fuels and other renewables is still a dire need. One way to maximize profitability and improve performance is flexibility through fast starts. In this regard, the steam turbine has been identified as a key limiting component to the start-up process. This work focuses on analyzing the influence of steam turbine start-up parameters on the overall annual performance of a CSP plant. For this, a detailed parabolic trough power plant (PTPP) performance model was developed including a control strategy to account for turbine transient start-up constraints. The PTPP model was developed in accordance to the latest state-of-the-art of the technology. As such, the first part of the results consisted of validation studies of the model with respect to the actual power plant. The results obtained in this regard showed that the model correlates to the rated performance of the power plant with maximum errors of 12% and of 14% to the dynamic operation of the power plant. The second part of this work consisted of using the validated model in a series of sensitivity studies concerning the variation of different turbine start-up parameters. Results showed that improvements of up to 1.8% in the annual electricity production are possible with only 0.3% increase in fuel consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the experimental results of the Cleanergy's C11S solar engine-generator tested in the KTH solar simulator. The paper focuses on the analysis of the thermal performance of the cavity receiver used in the C11S module. Multiple temperature measurements were taken on the tubes of the receiver, inside the cavity and on the internal surface of the cavity. These values allowed characterizing the temperature distribution all around the cavity receiver for the validation of thermal models and the estimation of the thermal losses. Moreover, this paper shows a comparison of the operating characteristics of the C11S module under the real operating conditions and the laboratory ones. It was observed that the temperatures of the receiver in the High Flux Solar Simulator (HFSS) resemble well the real temperatures. Thereby, the KTH solar lab provides proper irradiance levels to operate solar receivers at representative working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study evaluates and compares the optimum configurations for both PV-batteries and molten salt tower concentrating solar power plants that minimize the levelized cost of electricity for a suitable location for deployment of both solar technologies nearby Ouarzazate, Morocco, when considering two capacity factor objectives, namely 50% and 85%, and cost-projections for 2020 and 2030. Required target cost reduction rates for each of the main blocks in the tower plant (i.e. the solar field, the storage and the power block) are identified for guaranteeing its competitive advantage as the most economically viable solar-only technology at both capacity factor objectives investigated. It is shown that the larger the capacity factor requirement is, the more competitive the solar thermal technology would be. Specifically, the case-study shows that for an 85% capacity factor objective, tower plants would be more competitive even when considering the most pessimistic and optimistic cost projections for the solar thermal and PV-batteries sub-components, respectively. Nevertheless, it was also determined that in order to ensure being the most competitive solar-only technology at a 50% capacity factor objective by 2030, the costs of the solar field of the solar tower plants should reach values as low as 20-50 €/m², depending on the scenario, which means approximately a three to seven fold decrease of the costs as of 2017. At last, recommendations to solar thermal technology owners and developers are provided, and a short discussion regarding the viability and limitations of using battery electric storage systems for utility-scale solar plants is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar thermal enhanced oil recovery (S-EOR) is an advanced technique of using concentrated solar power (CSP) technology to generate steam and recover oil from maturing oil reservoirs. The generated steam is injected at high pressure and temperature into the reservoir wells to facilitate oil production. There are three common methods of steam injection in enhanced oil recovery – continuous steam injection, cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) and steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). Conventionally, this steam is generated through natural gas (NG) fired boilers with associated greenhouse gas emissions. However, pilot projects in the USA (Coalinga, California) and Oman (Miraah, Amal) demonstrated the use of S-EOR to meet their steam requirements despite the intermittent nature of solar irradiation. Hence, conventional steam based EOR projects under the Sunbelt region can benefit from S-EOR with reduced operational expenditure (OPEX) and increased profitability in the long term, even with the initial investment required for solar equipment. S-EOR can be realized as an opportunity for countries not owning any natural gas resources to make them less energy dependent and less sensible to gas price fluctuations, and for countries owning natural gas resources to reduce their gas consumption and export it for a higher margin. In this study, firstly, the market potential of S-EOR was investigated worldwide by covering some of the major ongoing steam based EOR projects as well as future projects in pipeline. A multi-criteria analysis was performed to compare local conditions and requirements of all the oil fields based on a defined set of parameters. Secondly, a modelling approach for S-EOR was designed to identify cost reduction opportunities and optimum solar integration techniques, and the Issaran oil field in Egypt was selected for a case study to substantiate the approach. This modelling approach can be consulted to develop S-EOR projects for any steam flooding based oil fields. The model was developed for steam flooding requirements in Issaran oil field using DYESOPT, KTH's in-house tool for techno-economic modelling in CSP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the performance improvements implemented in the KTH high-flux solar simulator to deliver a total power on target closer to the working conditions of real CSP systems. Therefore, additional rectifiers were installed in the power conversion unit of the high-power lamps as well as the back reflector was coated providing more favorable spectral reflectance properties. The results of a single lamp/lens-combination show that the power on target in an aperture of 280mm in diameter was increased from 831W to 1446W while the peak flux was increased from 675kW/m2 to 905kW/m2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study quantifies the reduction in the levelized cost of electricity (LCoE) and capital expenditure (CAPEX) of a dish Stirling power plant (DSPP) through an increase in localization and unit production volume. Furthermore, the localization value of the plant is examined to determine how much investment is brought into the local economy. Ouarzazate, Morocco, was chosen as the location of the study due to the country's favorable regulatory framework with regards to solar power technologies and its established industry in the concentrating solar power (CSP) field. A detailed techno-economic model of a DSPP was developed using KTH's in-house modelling tool DYESOPT, which allows power plant evaluation by means of technical and economic performance indicators. Results on the basis of LCoE and CAPEX were compared between two different cases of production volume, examining both a minimum and maximum level of localization. Thereafter, the DSPP LCoE and localization value were compared against competing solar technologies to evaluate its competitiveness. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was conducted around key design parameters. The study confirms that the LCoE of a DSPP can be reduced to values similar to solar photovoltaic (PV) and lower than other CSP technologies. Furthermore, the investment in the local economy is far greater when compared to PV and of the same magnitude to other CSP technologies. The competiveness of a DSPP has the potential to increase further when coupled with thermal energy storage (TES), which is currently under development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A measurement system for the experimental determination of the flux distribution at the focal plane of the KTH high-flux solar simulator was designed and implemented. It is based on a water-cooled Lambertian target and a thermopile flux sensor placed close to the focal point of the solar simulator. Correction factors to account for systematic effects were determined and an uncertainty analysis was performed. The measurement system was successfully used to evaluate the flux distribution of a single lamp/lens-arrangement with a peak flux of 675kW/m2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar Tower Power Plants with thermal energy storage are a promising technology for dispatchable renewable energy in the near future. Storage integration makes possible to shift the electricity production to more profitable peak hours. Usually two tanks are used to store cold and hot fluids, but this means both higher investment costs and difficulties during the operation of the variable volume tanks. Instead, another solution can be a single tank thermocline storage in a multi-layered configuration. In such tank both latent and sensible fillers are employed to decrease the related cost up to 30% and maintain high efficiencies. This paper analyses a multi-layered solid PCM storage tank concept for solar tower applications, and describes a comprehensive methodology to determine under which market structures such devices can outperform the more conventional two tank storage systems. A detail model of the tank has been developed and introduced in an existing techno-economic tool developed by the authors (DYESOPT). The results show that under current cost estimates and technical limitations the multi-layered solid PCM storage concept is a better solution when peaking operating strategies are desired, as it is the case for the two-tier South African tariff scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among concentrating solar power technologies, direct steam generation solar tower power plants represent a promising option. These systems eliminate the usage of heat transfer fluids allowing for the power block to be run at greater operating temperatures and therefore further increasing the thermal efficiency of the power cycle. On the other hand, the current state of the art of these systems does not comprise thermal energy storage as there are no currently available and techno-economically feasible storage integration options. This situation makes direct steam generation configurations even more susceptible to the already existing variability of operating conditions due to the fluctuation of the solar supply. In the interest of improving the annual performance and competitiveness of direct steam generation solar tower systems, the present study examines the influence of implementing two flexibility enhancing concepts which control the steam flow to the turbine as a function of the incoming solar irradiation. The proposed concepts were implemented in a reference plant model previously developed by the authors. Then, a multi-objective optimization was carried out in order to understand which configurations of the steam turbine concepts yield reductions of the levelized cost of electricity at a lower investment costs when compared to the reference model. Results show that the implementation of the proposed strategies can enhance the thermo-economic performance of direct steam generation systems by yielding a reduction of up to 9.2% on the levelized cost of electricity, mainly due to allowing 20% increase in the capacity factor, while increasing the investment costs by 7.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed 3-D radiation analysis of a dish-Stirling cavity receiver is carried out to estimate the cavity steadystate temperatures in order to assess the receiver integrity, lifetime and efficiency performance. For this purpose, a parabolic dish was modeled with 5.2 m focal length, 8.85 m aperture diameter and 2 mrad surface error. Three generic cavity shapes (cylindrical, diamond-shaped and reverse-conical) with three different emissivities (0.2, 0.4 and 0.7) are studied. Worst-case scenario heat generations (total absorbed radiation), maximum steady-state temperatures and energy balances of the cavities are calculated to evaluate the receiver performance. The results show that reverse-conical cavities can significantly reduce cavity wall peak temperatures (by 40-120 K), improve the temperature evenness and decrease the radiation losses by 4-5%. Regarding radiation properties, low reflectivities present lower steady-state temperatures even for low/moderate direct solar fluxes. Due to the lower temperatures, lower total thermal losses are also expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]