Comparison of Molten Salts and Thermal Oil in Parabolic Trough Power Plants for Different Sites and Different Storage Capacities

Jürgen Dersch (), Michael Karl Wittmann and Tobias Hirsch
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Jürgen Dersch: German Aerospace Center (DLR e.V.), Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne, Germany
Michael Karl Wittmann: German Aerospace Center (DLR e.V.), Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Tobias Hirsch: German Aerospace Center (DLR e.V.), Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: This study compares the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of parabolic trough solar power plants using thermal oil or two different molten salt mixtures located at three different sites and with different thermal storage capacities. The necessity of using appropriate model approaches for the temperatures along a loop of the solar field is discussed, as well as the utilization of heat from thermal storage for freeze protection of the molten salt plants. The ternary salt mixture with a lower temperature limit of 170 °C and an upper temperature limit of 500 °C shows the lowest LCOE for all sites and almost all investigated storage capacities. Molten salts as heat transfer fluids are particularly favorable for sites with high irradiation and plants with large storage capacities of more than six full load hours.

Keywords: parabolic trough; molten salt; levelized cost of energy; freeze protection (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: 2025
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