Effect of Two Different Heat Transfer Fluids on the Performance of Solar Tower CSP by Comparing Recompression Supercritical CO2 and Rankine Power Cycles, China

Abstract

China intends to develop its renewable energy sector in order to cut down on its pollution levels. Concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies are expected to play a key role in this agenda. This study evaluated the technical and economic performance of a 100 MW solar tower CSP in Tibet, China, under different heat transfer fluids (HTF), i.e., Salt (60% NaNO3 40% KNO3) or HTF A, and Salt (46.5% LiF 11.5% NaF 42% KF) or HTF B under two different power cycles, namely supercritical CO2 and Rankine. Results from the study suggest that the Rankine power cycle with HTF A and B recorded capacity factors (CF) of 39% and 40.3%, respectively. The sCO2 power cycle also recorded CFs of 41% and 39.4% for HTF A and HTF B, respectively. A total of 359 GWh of energy was generated by the sCO2 system with HTF B, whereas the sCO2 system with HTF A generated a total of 345 GWh in the first year. The Rankine system with HTF A generated a total of 341 GWh, while the system with B as its HTF produced a total of 353 GWh of electricity in year one. Electricity to grid mainly occurred between 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. throughout the year. According to the results, the highest levelized cost of energy (LCOE) (real) of 0.1668 USD/kWh was recorded under the Rankine cycle with HTF A. The lowest LCOE (real) of 0.1586 USD/kWh was obtained under the sCO2 cycle with HTF B. In general, all scenarios were economically viable at the study area; however, the sCO2 proved to be more economically feasible according to the simulated results.

Experimental Investigation of the Effect of a Combination of Active and Passive Cooling Mechanism on the Thermal Characteristics and Efficiency of Solar PV Module

“…The cost of energy for the cooled panel was investigated using the levelized cost of energy (LCE) approach as presented in Equation ( 6). The LCE is one of the most acceptable ways of evaluating the cost of electricity generated from renewable energy power plants [27,28].…”

Linking Economic Growth, Urbanization, and Environmental Degradation in China: What Is the Role of Hydroelectricity Consumption?

“…This significant upsurge in CO 2 is attributable to an upsurge in fossil fuel utilization for energy generation, which accounted for about 86 percent of total primary energy use in China in 2020 [7]. As air pollution levels rise in China, the government is making more efforts to construct initiatives that encourage renewable energy [8]. For example, China has enacted many measures to facilitate green energy, including the policy processes of 2006 and 2009, as well as subsidy programs in 2003 and 2010, all of which were aimed at boosting the utilization of renewable energy in the nation [9].…”

Comparative Analysis of Rankine Cycle Linear Fresnel Reflector and Solar Tower Plant Technologies: Techno-Economic Analysis for Ethiopia

“…The NPV considers both revenues and costs; this is estimated using Equation (12) [14,36]. A positive NPV shows that the intended project is financially viable, whereas a negative value indicates otherwise [14,16,21].…”

“…The PPA model is the best financial model for large-scale power projects such as the one modeled in this study. Commercial PPA and utility projects are presumed to sell the generated electricity through a PPA at a fixed price with optional yearly escalation and time-of-delivery factors [21,46]. This study used the PPA Single Owner financing structure for the simulation and analysis.…”

“…An LCOE of 24 $/kWh was obtained for the CSP plant with a total installation cost projected per net capacity of 8.3 thousand dollars per kilowatt at an absolute cost of about 412 million US dollars. Agyekum et al [21] estimated the effect of different heat transfer fluids i.e., Salt (46.5% LiF 11.5% NaF 42% KF) and Salt (60% NaNO3 40% KNO3) on a CRS in China. Their results indicated that the system with salt (60% NaNO3 40% KNO3) recorded a real LCOE of 0.1668 $/kWh using a Rankine cycle, while the system with salt (46.5% LiF 11.5% NaF 42% KF) recorded the lowest real LCOE of 0.1586 $/kWh using supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) cycle.…”