Leveraging Energy Storage in a Solar-Tower and Combined Cycle Hybrid Power Plant

Kevin Ellingwood, Seyed Mostafa Safdarnejad, Khalid Rashid and Kody Powell
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Kevin Ellingwood: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-9203, USA
Seyed Mostafa Safdarnejad: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-9203, USA
Khalid Rashid: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-9203, USA
Kody Powell: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-9203, USA

Energies, 2018, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-23

Abstract: A method is presented to enhance solar penetration of a hybrid solar-combined cycle power plant integrated with a packed-bed thermal energy storage system. The hybrid plant is modeled using Simulink and employs systems-level automation. Feedback control regulates net power, collector temperature, and turbine firing temperature. A base-case plant is presented, and plant design is systematically modified to improve solar energy utilization. A novel recycling configuration enables robust control of collector temperature and net power during times of high solar activity. Recycling allows for improved solar energy utilization and a yearly solar fraction over 30%, while maintaining power control. During significant solar activity, excessive collector temperature and power setpoint mismatch are still observed with the proposed recycling configuration. A storage bypass is integrated with recycling, to lower storage charging rate. This operation results in diverting only a fraction of air flow to storage, which lowers the storage charging rate and improves solar energy utilization. Recycling with a storage bypass can handle larger solar inputs and a solar fraction over 70% occurs when following a drastic peaking power load. The novel plant configuration is estimated to reduce levelized cost of the plant by over 4% compared to the base-case plant.

Keywords: concentrated solar power; hybridization; thermal energy storage; simulation; control (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: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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