Techno-Economic Assessment of Heat Transfer Fluid Buffering for Thermal Energy Storage in the Solar Field of Parabolic Trough Solar Thermal Power Plants

Jorge M. Llamas, David Bullejos and Manuel Ruiz de Adana
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Jorge M. Llamas: Department of Electrical Engineering, Escuela Politécnica Superior de Córdoba (EPSC), Universidad de Córdoba, Ctra. Madrid-Cádiz Km. 396, 14071 Cordoba, Spain
David Bullejos: Department of Electrical Engineering, Escuela Politécnica Superior de Córdoba (EPSC), Universidad de Córdoba, Ctra. Madrid-Cádiz Km. 396, 14071 Cordoba, Spain
Manuel Ruiz de Adana: Department of Thermal Engines, Escuela Politécnica Superior de Córdoba (EPSC), Universidad de Córdoba, Ctra. Madrid-Cádiz Km. 396, 14071 Cordoba, Spain

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-17

Abstract: Currently, operating parabolic trough (PT) solar thermal power plants, either solar-only or with thermal storage block, use the solar field as a heat transfer fluid (HTF) thermal storage system to provide extra thermal capacity when it is needed. This is done by circulating heat transfer fluid into the solar field piping in order to create a heat fluid buffer. In the same way, by oversizing the solar field, it can work as an alternative thermal energy storage (TES) system to the traditionally applied methods. This paper presents a solar field TES model for a standard solar field from a 50-MW e solar power plant. An oversized solar model is analyzed to increase the capacity storage system (HTF buffering). A mathematical model has been developed and different simulations have been carried out over a cycle of one year with six different solar multiples considered to represent the different oversized solar field configurations. Annual electricity generation and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) are calculated to find the solar multiple (SM) which makes the highest solar field thermal storage capacity possible within the minimum LCOE.

Keywords: solar thermal; parabolic trough (PT); thermal storage; heat transfer fluid (HTF) buffering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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