Energy and exergy analyses of a parabolic trough concentrated solar power plant using molten salt during the start-up process

Shunqi Zhang, Ming Liu, Yongliang Zhao, Jiping Liu and Junjie Yan

Energy, 2022, vol. 254, issue PC

Abstract: Daily start-up is the character of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants because of solar energy intermittency. Thus, much energy is consumed during the start-up process of CSPs plants. Detailed energy and exergy analyses on the start-up process can guide CSP design and operation. In this study, energy and exergy analyses for parabolic trough concentrated solar power plants using molten salt during start-up processes were conducted, and the distributions and causes of energy loss were investigated. Results indicate that the total start-up energy loss accounts for 52.32% of total input energy. Collector optical loss, turbine cold source loss, and receiver heat loss are major ones, accounting for 45.80%, 23.11%, and 17.91% of the total energy loss, respectively. The exergy loss of the entire start-up process accounts for 67.11% of the total input exergy. Collector exergy loss due to optical efficiency and receiver exergy loss due to heat loss are major ones, accounting for 77.74% and 9.19% of the total exergy loss, respectively. Compared with recirculating pump utilization, utilizing the molten salt anti-freezing solution of the low-load regenerative heater can reduce start-up energy consumption. This work can lay a foundation for the energy-saving optimization of CSP plants during start-up processes.

Keywords: Energy analysis; Exergy analysis; Start-up process; Parabolic trough concentrated solar power plant; Molten salt (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544222013834
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:254:y:2022:i:pc:s0360544222013834

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2022.124480

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().