A techno-economic comparative analysis of thermal oil and molten salt parabolic trough power plants with molten salt solar towers

Pan, Christoph Adrian; Guédez, Rafael; Dinter, Frank; Harms, Thomas

doi:10.1063/1.5117632

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Their specialty in decreasing the tank size owing to their high energy density is also very useful in employing them as HTFs. 78 They are fascinating storage media because of their excellent thermal properties (heat capacity and conductivity) with exceptional heat stability and inertia. These attributes enable designing of systems with minimal thermal losses, increasing the plant's overall performance.…”

Section: Molten Salts As Heat Transfer Fluidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are environmentally benign, non‐flammable, abundant, and economical. Their specialty in decreasing the tank size owing to their high energy density is also very useful in employing them as HTFs 78 . They are fascinating storage media because of their excellent thermal properties (heat capacity and conductivity) with exceptional heat stability and inertia.…”

Section: Applications Of Molten Salts In Csp Plantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Molten salts: Potential candidates for thermal energy storage applications

Bhatnagar

Siddiqui

Sreedhar

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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Summary Molten salts as thermal energy storage (TES) materials are gaining the attention of researchers worldwide due to their attributes like low vapor pressure, non‐toxic nature, low cost and flexibility, high thermal stability, wide range of applications etc. This review presents potential applications of molten salts in solar and nuclear TES and the factors influencing their performance. Ternary salts (Hitec salt, Hitec XL) are found to be best suited for concentrated solar plants due to their lower melting point and higher efficiency. Two‐tank direct energy storage system is found to be more economical due to the inexpensive salts (KCl‐MgCl2), while thermoclines are found to be more thermally efficient due to the power cycles involved and the high volumetric heat capacity of the salts involved (LiF‐NaF‐KF). Heat storage density has been given special focus in this review and methods to increase the same in terms of salt composition changes are discussed in the paper. Methods of concatenating energy storage systems with nuclear power plants are also discussed with different types of nuclear reactors like MHTGR, PAHTR, VHTR, etc. Nanomodifications of molten salts are done to improve heat transfer properties and efficiency of the transfer. The best dopants for such modifications were found to be TiO2, SiO2, MWCNTs, etc. Future challenges for large scale deployment of molten salts viz., high volume expansion ratio, low thermal conductivity, incongruent melting, corrosion, etc., are listed and discussed. Corrosion of molten salts and its mitigation has been discussed in detail for developing next‐generation storage systems and its remedies are also discussed.

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Section: Molten Salts As Heat Transfer Fluidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Applications Of Molten Salts In Csp Plantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molten salts: Potential candidates for thermal energy storage applications

Bhatnagar

Siddiqui

Sreedhar

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…An additional issue is caused by the high melting point of the molten salts, which can be in excess of 250°C, requiring night-time heating for freeze protection. Pan et al (2019) compared thermal oil and molten salt HTF systems and showed that there is a 1.7% increase in solar field cost due to advanced materials capable of withstanding the higher temperatures, but a decrease in cost of the storage system. This decrease is due to the reduction in volume required to store the same amount of energy at higher temperature.…”

Section: Overview Of the Main Components Of A Csp Plantmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post subsidy conditions: Evaluating the techno-economic performance of concentrating solar power in Spain

et al. 2021

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“…In a more recent techno-economic study, comparing the relative costs of solar towers and parabolic troughs, Pan et al (2019) reported that solar towers could breach the USD 0.10/kWh barrier, and were generally more cost-effective than parabolic troughs. Furthermore, there have been several recent reports of cost-competitive CSP facilities, with costs as low as USD 0.07/kWh having been bid for projects in Australia and Dubai (Pan et al, 2019;Lilliestam and Pitz-Paal, 2018;Kraemer, 2017), indicating that with low land, finance and construction costs, energy costs approaching those of wind and solar PV are still possible. A breakdown of the capital costs involved in construction of a tower CSP plant is given in Figure 6, where the heliostats account for 38% of the total cost of the plant (Black and Veatch, 2012).…”

Section: Cost Of Concentrated Solar Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

An exploratory study of the South African concentrated solar power sector using the technological innovation systems framework

Potts¹,

Walwyn

2020

J. energy South. Afr.

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Wide-scale deployment of variable renewable energy (wind and solar photovoltaic) is constrained by its associated requirements for energy storage, the technologies for which are currently too expensive to be routinely used. Concentrated solar power (CSP), with its inherent storage capacity, offers semi-dispatchable electricity at large scale. However, its deployment to date has been restricted by high capital costs and the limited geographical locations with optimal solar radiation to attain required efficiencies. South Africa, with its abundant solar resources, has the potential to develop an export-competitive CSP industry by leveraging existing capabilities in innovation, manufacturing and construction, but has yet to attain this goal. This study applied a qualitative, exploratory approach and the framework of technological innovation systems (TIS) to understand the factors that are currently prohibiting the country from being a global leader in CSP. The assessment has revealed the presence of largely immature TIS, characterised by a heavy reliance on imported technology and market support from the state-supported procurement programme. The advancement of CSP remains contingent on further allocation of CSP procurement targets in this programme and sufficient support to develop entrepreneurial activity. An integrated industrial policy strategy, which can ensure technology transfer and address the high cost of CSP, is recommended as a means of addressing the barriers to its development as a competitive industry.

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A techno-economic comparative analysis of thermal oil and molten salt parabolic trough power plants with molten salt solar towers

Cited by 10 publications

References 9 publications

Molten salts: Potential candidates for thermal energy storage applications

Molten salts: Potential candidates for thermal energy storage applications

Post subsidy conditions: Evaluating the techno-economic performance of concentrating solar power in Spain

An exploratory study of the South African concentrated solar power sector using the technological innovation systems framework

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