The Role of Concentrating Solar-Thermal Technologies in a Decarbonized U.S. Grid

Augustine, Chad; Turchi, Craig; Mehos, Mark

doi:10.2172/1820100

Cited by 10 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…This simplistic calculation is misleadingly optimistic; actual production will be much more demanding due to practical issues such as work stoppages for various reasons and operational constraints such as weather and daylight. 6 Meeting a one-year overall lead time would further accelerate production pace owing to the need to reserve time for calibration and commissioning. Smaller heliostat designs lead to even higher required production rates.…”

Section: Advanced Manufacturingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, heliostat-based CSP systems could be competitive in dispatchable electricity generation, solar fuel, and heavy industry process heat applications once its economic performance can be further improved. Taking electricity as an example in Figure 3, it is projected that, if a baseload heliostat-based electricity generation system with a storage of 12 hours or more can achieve a cost target of 5 cents per kWh, its commercial deployment may reach a total commercial scale of 35 to 200 GWe by 2050 and may account for 3.5%-20% of national electricity generation for a given scenario [6]. Figures from [7], [8] Additionally, when the 2030 performance goal for the heliostat-based CSP systems is met, it would have great potential in non-electricity sectors as well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Roadmap to Advance Heliostat Technologies for Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power

Zhu¹,

Augustine²,

Mitchell³

et al. 2022

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Heliostat-based concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) systems can offer immense potential to provide low-cost, dispatchable renewable thermal and electrical energy to help achieve 100% decarbonized energy infrastructure in the United States. Heliostats are a major determinant of both capital cost and performance of state-of-the-art commercial molten salt towers and Generation 3 CSP systems. 1 In 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) launched the Heliostat Consortium (HelioCon), a five-year initiative to advance heliostat technologies. The HelioCon mission is threefold: (1) establish strategic core testing and modeling capabilities and infrastructure at national labs; (2) support heliostat technology development in relevant industries; and (3) serve as a central repository to integrate industry, academia, and other stakeholders for heliostat technology research, development, validation, and deployment. In this report, HelioCon presents a roadmapping study on advancing heliostat technologies, intended as a central reference for the entire CSP community.1 More information on Gen3 technologies can be found at https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/generation-3concentrating-solar-power-systems-gen3-csp. vii This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications. Metrology and StandardsAppropriate measurement techniques and industry standards are fundamental for product design, prototyping, engineering, and improvement. Gaps in metrology:Opto-mechanical metrology (mirror slope error, mirror facet canting error, and heliostat tracking error) is complex, error-prone, and requires high optical precision, necessitating rigorous validation of different technologies using the same measurement parameter(s). Current metrology gaps include:• Lack of at least two viable metrology techniques for a given measurement parameter (such as heliostat tracking error, available for the global CSP industry)• Insufficient or missing validation of any viable metrology technique against a different, trusted metrology technique or ground-truth article. Gaps in standards:Gaps in community-wide standards for site characterization and heliostat design, testing, field design, and field acceptance test protocols result in significant barriers for new developers, extended design cycles, lower investor confidence, and more complicated arbitration between project parties. Gaps include:• Heliostat terminology • Heliostat design guidelines • Heliostat solar field design/simulation guidelines • Heliostat test guidelines • Heliostat solar field acceptance test guidelines • Site characterization guidelines (e.g., wind, topography, soiling characteristics). Recommended pathway forward: Addressing these gaps requires continuing development of new metrology tools and round-robin tests of existing/to-be-developed tools. More importantly, ix This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.o...

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Section: Advanced Manufacturingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Roadmap to Advance Heliostat Technologies for Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power

Zhu¹,

Augustine²,

Mitchell³

et al. 2022

Self Cite

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“…More conservative projects estimate a potential of 39 GW by 2050 (Augustine, Turchi, and Mehos 2022). The United States could also benefit from the same innovation advantages it possesses with regard to PV.…”

Section: Executive Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A utility-scale heliostat field (100 MWe, for example) might include more than 10,000 heliostats (NREL and SolarPACES 2021). Heliostats represent 30%-50% of the cost of power tower system construction (Augustine, Turchi, and Mehos 2022;NREL 2021c), and are a primary driver of O&M costs. For parabolic trough technology, the solar field can be nearly 40% of the total system construction cost (IRENA 2016).…”

Section: Executive Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Initial Heliostat Supply Chain Analysis

Kurup¹,

Akar²,

Augustine³

et al. 2022

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Improvements to heliostat cost, performance, and reliability are necessary to achieve the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 2030 SunShot target for CSP of $0.05/kWh with 12 hours of thermal energy storage (TES) in the Southwest (DOE SETO 2021b). Low-cost, highperformance Generation 3 (Gen3) CSP technologies are expected to integrate with hightemperature tower receivers and TES with advanced supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) cycles. DOE recently down-selected the solid-particle pathway as the most likely to meet the 2030

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“…The integration of CSP plants with PTES systems is a possible solution to overcome this limitation. Moreover, the possible sharing of some components between the two sections (such as the power generation section and the TES system) would lead to significant savings in capital costs [20]. Although the integration of PTES systems with CSP plants could lead to various potential benefits, only the study recently proposed by McTigue et al [21] has investigated this possibility.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%