Cost Analysis of Different Operation Strategies for Falling Particle Receivers

Abstract

The potential for highly efficient and cost competitive solar energy collection at high temperatures drives the actual research and development activities for particle tower systems. One promising concept for particle receivers is the falling particle receiver. This paper is related to a particle receiver, in which falling ceramic particles form a particle curtain, which absorbs the concentrated solar radiation. Complex operation strategies will result in higher receiver costs, for both investment and operation. The objective of this paper is to assess the influence of the simultaneous variation of receiver costs and efficiency characteristics on levelized cost of heat (LCOH) and on levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Applying cost assumptions for the particle receiver and the particle transport system, the LCOE are estimated and compared for each considered concept. The power level of the compared concepts is 125 MWel output at design point. The sensitivity of the results on the specific cost assumptions is analyzed. No detailed evaluation is done for the thermal storage, but comparable storage utilization and costs are assumed for all cases.

Review of high-temperature central receiver designs for concentrating solar power

“…Once heated, the particles may be stored in an insulated tank and/or used to heat a secondary working fluid (e.g., steam, CO 2 , air) for the power cycle (see Figure 7). Although a number of analytical and laboratory studies have been performed on the falling particle receiver since its inception in the 1980's [102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116][117][118], only one set of on-sun tests of a simple falling particle receiver has been performed [114]. Those preliminary tests, which did not optimize the configuration of the receiver aperture, only achieved 50% thermal efficiency, and the increase in particle temperature was ~250°C from ambient conditions.…”

On-sun demonstration of a 750 °C heat transfer fluid for concentrating solar systems: Dense particle suspension in tube

“…Operation strategies of such receivers have been http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2015.06.007 0038-092X/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Gobereit et al (2013), who demonstrated that an efficiency in excess of 90% can be reached for a face-down design receiver. The Small Particle Heat Exchanger Receiver (SPHER) concept was demonstrated at lab-scale by Frederickson et al (2014) with a solar simulator: the outlet of the mixed air-CO 2 gas flow reached 800°C.…”

A review of high-temperature particle receivers for concentrating solar power

“…The majority of those studies focused on modeling the particle hydraulics and radiant heat transfer to falling particles. Various geometries and configurations of falling particle receivers have been considered, including north/south facing cavity receivers as well as face-down cavity receivers with a surrounding heliostat field [8,32,42]. In 2008, Siegel et al performed one of the first onsun tests (in batch mode) of a simple free-falling particle receiver [18,49].…”