Performance and Water Consumption of the Solar Steam-Injection Gas Turbine Cycle

2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Livshits ◽  
Abraham Kribus
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Steam Injection ◽  
Water Recovery ◽  
Solar Power Plants ◽  
Improved Model ◽  
Hybrid Cycle

Solar heat at moderate temperatures around 200 °C can be utilized for augmentation of conventional steam-injection gas turbine power plants. Solar concentrating collectors for such an application can be simpler and less expensive than collectors used for current solar power plants. We perform a thermodynamic analysis of this hybrid cycle, focusing on improved modeling of the combustor and the water recovery condenser. The cycle's water consumption is derived and compared to other power plant technologies. The analysis shows that the performance of the hybrid cycle under the improved model is similar to the results of the previous simplified analysis. The water consumption of the cycle is negative due to water production by combustion, in contrast to other solar power plants that have positive water consumption. The size of the needed condenser is large, and a very low-cost condenser technology is required to make water recovery in the solar STIG cycle technically and economically feasible.

Thermoeconomic Analysis of CSP Air-Steam Mixed Cycles

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Barberis ◽  
Alberto Traverso
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Steam Injection ◽  
Combined Cycle ◽  
Time To Market ◽  
Good Opportunity ◽  
Point Analysis ◽  
Solar Power Plants

This paper investigates the integration of Concentrating Solar Power technology in air-steam Mixed Cycles for power production. Starting from a state of the art of CSP plants and the undergoing research in hybridization of Gas Turbine plants, the paper investigates alternative plant configurations particularly regarding the integration of CSP technology with mixed cycles, assessed and compared with a through-life thermo-economic analysis. Solar heat collected by on the market CSP mirrors at moderate temperatures (300°C–500°C) can be employed to increase conventional steam-injection gas turbine power plants performances. Solar concentrating collectors for current steam solar power plants can be used for such an application can be simpler and less expensive than collectors supposed to be used for hybrid GT CSP Plants which need high temperature systems (collectors and receivers). The solar hybridization of mixed cycles could be a good opportunity to combine gas turbine technology and CSP systems thus augmenting efficiency and achieving power dispatchability, but avoiding dedicated combustion chambers for hybrid CSP purposes (one of the big technologic problems to combine CSP and Gas Turbine technology). Moreover, the availability of commercial steam injected gas turbines at intermediate power range (10–100MW) allows the realization of such hybrid mixed CSP power plants in their typical size, avoiding the need for very large solar fields and reducing the technological risk as well as the time to market. Focus is on the design of the plant that was made analyzing different factor like solar share factor, water consumption and reintegration and LCOE. A comparison of this innovative hybrid CSP-STIG plant with traditional STIG, Integrated Solar Combined Cycles (ISCC) and a traditional Combined Cycle was made. The mixed cycles CSP plants are analyzed using the original software WTEMP for the design point analysis, whose library was updated with dedicated modules. The analysis shows that combining CSP technology with existing mixed cycles lets cost-competitive plant configurations with a relatively short time to market.

scholarly journals Pilot Low-Cost Concentrating Solar Power Systems Deployment in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study of Implementation Challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6223
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Wendsongre Ramde ◽  
Eric Tutu Tchao ◽  
Yesuenyeagbe Atsu Kwabla Fiagbe ◽  
Jerry John Kponyo ◽  
Asakipaam Simon Atuah
Keyword(s):  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Tracking Systems ◽  
Concentrating Solar Power ◽  
Solar Power Plants ◽  
Sub Saharan

Electricity is one of the most crucial resources that drives any given nation’s growth and development. The latest Sustainable Development Goals report indicates Africa still has a high deficit in electricity generation. Concentrating solar power seems to be a potential option to fill the deficit. That is because most of the components of concentrating solar power plants are readily available on the African market at affordable prices, and there are qualified local persons to build the plants. Pilot micro-concentrating solar power plants have been implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa and have shown promising results that could be expanded and leveraged for large-scale electricity generation. An assessment of a pilot concentrating solar power plant in the sub-region noticed one noteworthy obstacle that is the failure of the tracking system to reduce the operating energy cost of running the tracking control system and improve the multifaceted heliostat focusing behavior. This paper highlights the energy situation and the current development in concentrating solar power technology research in Africa. The paper also presents a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art solar tracking systems for central receiver systems to illustrate the current direction of research regarding the design of low-cost tracking systems in terms of computational complexity, energy consumption, and heliostat alignment accuracy.

scholarly journals Towards the Development of a Low-Cost Irradiance Nowcasting Sky Imager

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Valentín ◽  
Manuel Peña-Cruz ◽  
Daniela Moctezuma ◽  
Cesar Peña-Martínez ◽  
Carlos Pineda-Arellano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Irradiance ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Detection System ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Resource Assessment ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Robust Detection ◽  
Solar Power Plants ◽  
Solar Resource

Solar resource assessment is fundamental to reduce the risk in selecting the solar power-plants’ location; also for designing the appropriate solar-energy conversion technology and operating new sources of solar-power generation. Having a reliable methodology for solar irradiance forecasting allows accurately identifying variations in the plant energy production and, as a consequence, determining improvements in energy supply strategies. A new trend for solar resource assessment is based on the analysis of the sky dynamics by processing a set of images of the sky dome. In this paper, a methodology for processing the sky dome images to obtain the position of the Sun is presented; this parameter is relevant to compute the solar irradiance implemented in solar resource assessment. This methodology is based on the implementation of several techniques in order to achieve a combined, fast, and robust detection system for the Sun position regardless of the conditions of the sky, which is a complex task due to the variability of the sky dynamics. Identifying the correct position of the Sun is a critical parameter to project whether, in the presence of clouds, the occlusion of the Sun is occurring, which is essential in short-term solar resource assessment, the so-called irradiance nowcasting. The experimental results confirm that the proposed methodology performs well in the detection of the position of the Sun not only in a clear-sky day, but also in a cloudy one. The proposed methodology is also a reliable tool to cover the dynamics of the sky.

Gas turbine cycles for hybrid solar power plants

1999 ◽  
Vol 09 (PR3) ◽  
pp. Pr3-141-Pr3-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Garcia Casals
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Solar Power Plants

Low-Cost Material for Sensible Heat Based Thermal Storage to be Used in Thermodynamic Solar Power Plants

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Py ◽  
Nicolas Calvet ◽  
Re´gis Olives ◽  
Patrick Echegut ◽  
Catherine Bessada
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Thermal Storage ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Sensible Heat ◽  
Storage Material ◽  
Heat Storage Material ◽  
High Investment ◽  
Solar Power Plants

Thermal storage is a key component for thermal solar power plants. Today, no technology and material meet all the desired technical, economical and environmental targets. Especially in the case of extended storage (some hours), thousands of tonnes of materials are concerned leading to high investment cost as well as high energy and CO2 contents. In the present paper, an industrial ceramic made by vitrification of asbestos containing wastes is studied as a candidate to sensible heat storage material for both medium and high temperature solar power plants. The obtained stone-like material presents no hazard, no environmental impact, good thermophysical properties and a very low commercial cost (8 euros/t). Thanks to the vitrification process of the wastes, the obtained ceramic is very stable up to 1000°C and can be manufactured in a desired shape. Then, heat exchangers made of the storage material can be potentially realised and integrated in thermal processes.

scholarly journals High-performance and low-cost macroporous calcium oxide based materials for thermochemical energy storage in concentrated solar power plants

2019 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 543-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro E. Sánchez Jiménez ◽  
Antonio Perejón ◽  
Mónica Benítez Guerrero ◽  
José M. Valverde ◽  
Carlos Ortiz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Calcium Oxide ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Concentrated Solar Power ◽  
Solar Power Plants ◽  
Concentrated Solar Power Plants

Thermodynamic Cycles for a Small Particle Heat Exchange Receiver Used in Concentrating Solar Power Plants

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Kitzmiller ◽  
Fletcher Miller
Keyword(s):  
Heat Exchange ◽  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Small Particle ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Tube Wall ◽  
Brayton Cycle ◽  
Concentrating Solar Power ◽  
Thermodynamic Cycles ◽  
Solar Power Plants

Gas-cooled solar receivers for concentrating solar power plants are capable of providing high temperature, pressurized gas for electrical power generation via a Brayton cycle. This can be accomplished by expanding hot, pressurized gas directly through a turbine, or through using a heat exchanger to indirectly heat pressurized air. Gas-cooled receivers can be divided into two basic technologies. In tube based solar receivers, thermal energy is transferred to air through convection with the heated tube wall. This limits receiver efficiency since the tube wall needs to be substantially hotter than the gas inside due to the relatively poor gas heat transfer coefficient. In volumetric receivers, solar energy is absorbed within a volume, rather than on a surface. The absorption volume can be filled with ceramic foam, wires, or particles to act as the absorbing medium. In a small particle heat exchange receiver, for example, sub-micron sized particles absorb solar radiation, and transfer this energy as heat to a surrounding fluid. This effectively eliminates any thermal resistance, allowing for higher receiver efficiencies. However, mechanical considerations limit the size of volumetric, pressurized gas-cooled receivers. In order to solve this problem, several thermodynamic cycles have been investigated, each of which is motivated by key physical considerations in volumetric receivers. The cyclic efficiencies are determined by a new MATLAB code based on previous Brayton cycle modeling conducted by Sandia National Laboratories. The modeling accounts for pressure drops and temperature losses in various components, and parameters such as the turbine inlet temperature and pressure ratio are easily modified to run parametric cases. The performance of a gas-cooled solar receiver is largely a function of its ability to provide process gas at a consistent temperature or pressure, regardless of variations in solar flux, which can vary due to cloud transients or apparent sun motion throughout the day. Consistent output can be ensured by combusting fuel within the cycle, effectively making a solar/fossil fuel hybrid system. Several schemes for hybridization with natural gas are considered here, including externally fired concepts and combined receiver/combustor units. Because the efficiency of hybridized cycles is a function of the solar thermal input, the part load behavior of the recuperated cycle is examined in depth. Finally, a brief report of economic costs inherent to solar powered gas turbine engines is given. Possibilities for the future of solar power gas turbine power plants are discussed, with key issues regarding thermal storage techniques.

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