The authors thank the following individuals who provided input to this roadmap. These individuals participated in a DOE-sponsored CSP Gen3 workshop kicking off the roadmap effort as well as follow-on discussions leading to this publication. The Molten-Salt Technology Pathway working group that met at the workshop included the
This analysis is follow-on work to a previous study of the value of concentrating solar power (CSP) with thermal energy storage (TES) in the state of California. As in the previous study, it analyzes the value of both CSP-TES and utility-scale photovoltaics (PV), with the following additions: 1. This analysis uses the October 2013 database of the California grid as prepared by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). This version of the database includes reductions in fuel costs and prices of carbon dioxide emissions, among other updates. 2. In the base case, this analysis assumes that California adds 1,175 MW of energy storage to reflect policy targets. This analysis also evaluates sensitivities to this assumption. 3. This analysis evaluates both the base 33% renewable portfolio standard (RPS) released by the CAISO, and a 40% RPS scenario created by NREL. The additional renewables are based on an assumed 75%/25% split between solar PV and wind, with no changes to the non-RPS resources. 4. This analysis considers multiple CSP-TES configurations, starting with a base assumption of a solar multiple (SM) equal to 1.3 with 6 hours of storage but also with solar multiples up to 2.7 with 15 hours of storage. 5. As in the previous study, the base case considers no export limits from California to neighboring states beyond inherent transmission capacity. However, this analysis also considers the impact of restricting California net exports to 0 MW and 1,500 MW. This analysis includes two sources of value for either solar technology: operational value and capacity value. Operational value represents the avoided costs of conventional generation, which includes fuel costs, start-up costs, variable operation and maintenance costs, and emission costs. Capacity value reflects the ability of PV or CSP-TES to avoid the costs of building new conventional thermal generators in systems that need capacity in response to growing energy demand or plant retirements. Table ES-1 quantifies the operational value of CSP-TES and PV, and compares the potential value of providing firm system capacity.
The U.S. Department of Energy launched the SunShot Initiative in 2011 with the goal of making solar electricity cost-competitive with conventionally generated electricity by 2020. At the time this meant reducing photovoltaic and concentrating solar power prices by approximately 75%relative to 2010 costs-across the residential, commercial, and utility-scale sectors. To examine the implications of this ambitious goal, the Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) published the SunShot Vision Study in 2012. The study projected that achieving the SunShot price-reduction targets could result in solar meeting roughly 14% of U.S. electricity demand by 2030 and 27% by 2050-while reducing fossil fuel use, cutting emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, creating solar-related jobs, and lowering consumer electricity bills. v This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications. AcknowledgmentsThe authors thank the Solar Energy Technologies Office team for its support of this report and Robert Margolis of NREL for his management and oversight of the On the Path to SunShot report series. The following individuals provided valuable input during the analysis and publication process:
NOTICEThis report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereof.
A generalized modeling method is introduced and used to evaluate thermal energy storage (TES) performance. The method describes TES performance metrics in terms of three efficiencies: first-law efficiency, second-law efficiency, and storage effectiveness. By capturing all efficiencies in a systematic way, various TES technologies can be compared on an equal footing before more detailed simulations of the components and concentrating solar power (CSP) system are performed. The generalized performance metrics are applied to the particle-TES concept in a novel CSP thermal system design. The CSP thermal system has an integrated particle receiver and fluidized-bed heat exchanger, which uses gas/solid two-phase flow as the heat-transfer fluid, and solid particles as the heat carrier and storage medium. The TES method can potentially achieve high temperatures (>800 °C) and high thermal efficiency economically.
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