Techno-economic analysis of hybrid PV/T systems for process heat using electricity to subsidize the cost of heat

Brian C. Riggs, Richard Biedenharn, Christopher Dougher, Yaping Vera Ji, Qi Xu, Vince Romanin, Daniel S. Codd, James M. Zahler and Matthew D. Escarra

Applied Energy, 2017, vol. 208, issue C, No S0306261917313041, 1370-1378

Abstract: Process heat applications make up a large potential market for renewable energy. Concentrated solar thermal (CST) systems are capable of reaching temperatures necessary for a wide variety of industrial and commercial applications but are often overlooked due to the difficulty of competing with natural gas. Novel hybrid photovoltaic/thermal systems (PV/T) are capable of simultaneously generating electricity and heat. The electricity produced is of higher value and offsets the lifetime cost of the system by producing a cost savings to the facility, ultimately making solar heat competitive with natural gas, propane, coal, and other fuels. An economic model that utilizes the electricity savings as part of the cash flow within the levelized cost of energy equation is presented here. We further determine the sensitivity of PV/T system costs to technical, financial, and geographical parameters. A dish concentrator PV/T (CPV/T) system with a transmissive CPV array is used as a reference system for sensitivity analysis. Through design choices informed by this new modeling approach, the levelized cost of heat (LCOH) is shown to be competitive with natural gas in up to 6 states within the United States and can be reduced to a minimum of −1.4¢/kWhth in Hawaii by factoring in the electricity savings from additional energy generated by the transmissive CPV module. Competitiveness in select global regions is also considered. Further examination of several other geometries of PV/T systems with this model, for an installation in California, shows that flat plate collectors with waste heat recovery result in the lowest LCOH of 1.23¢/kWhth.

Keywords: Techno-economic analysis; Solar thermal; Spectrum-splitting; Hybrid solar (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261917313041
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:appene:v:208:y:2017:i:c:p:1370-1378

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.09.018

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

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