A Quasi-Steady State Model of a Solar Parabolic Dish Micro Gas Turbine Demonstration Plant

Michela Lanchi, Jafar Al-Zaili, Valeria Russo, Massimo Falchetta, Marco Montecchi and Lukas Aichmayer
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Michela Lanchi: ENEA—Italian National Agency for New Technology, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Casaccia Research Centre, Via Anguillarese 301, S. Maria di Galeria, 00123 Rome, Italy
Jafar Al-Zaili: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, City University of London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, UK
Valeria Russo: ENEA—Italian National Agency for New Technology, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Casaccia Research Centre, Via Anguillarese 301, S. Maria di Galeria, 00123 Rome, Italy
Massimo Falchetta: ENEA—Italian National Agency for New Technology, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Casaccia Research Centre, Via Anguillarese 301, S. Maria di Galeria, 00123 Rome, Italy
Marco Montecchi: ENEA—Italian National Agency for New Technology, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Casaccia Research Centre, Via Anguillarese 301, S. Maria di Galeria, 00123 Rome, Italy
Lukas Aichmayer: Department of Energy Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-24

Abstract: In the framework of the European Optimised Microturbine Solar Power system (OMSoP) project, a novel energy system for solar electricity production was developed, based on the integration of the solar dish technology with Micro Gas Turbines (MGT). A pilot plant with a capacity of 5–7 kW e was realized and installed at the ENEA Casaccia site (Rome) and went under testing to validate the feasibility of the technology and improve the current design. The present work deals with the development of a quasi-state system model, built in the Engineering Equation Solver environment, composed of different modules that correspond to the main system components. The system model was used to define the optimal system parameters, to help the elaboration on an operational strategy to maximize the overall plant efficiency, and to guide the improvement of the single components in view of their optimised design. From the analysis it emerged that the system in design conditions is able to generate, in nominal conditions, 4.5 kW e instead of the expected 5 kW e due to the limitation of the stator current to 13 A, while maximum levels of 5.6 kW could be achieved by “overcharging” the high-speed generator up to 15 A and operating the MGT at the very high speed of 150 krpm. From the transient simulation of the demo system on an annual basis, the maximum average output power is 3.58 kW e . Regarding the cycle efficiency, the annual averaged value is about 17%, whereas the target value is 21%. The improvement of the generator only does not seem to significantly increase the power output on the annual basis (3.75 kW e vs. 3.58 kW e ). Differently, the improvement of the solar dish, with the upgrade of the other system components, would significantly increase the system power output to around ~10 kW e .

Keywords: concentrated solar power plants; solar dish; micro gas turbine; stationary system model (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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