Effects of regional insolation differences upon advanced solar thermal electric power plant performance and energy costs

Configuration Selection Study for Isolated Loads

“…(3) is minimized (i.e., d(EC)/d(CF) 5 = 0). This minimization yields EC/=EC/ (6) This is the basic result which allowed the construction of the nomograph presented in Fig. 3.…”

“…Since the intent is to gain insight into the first-order tradeoffs between relative usage of solar and fossil fuels in the context of employing battery storage, a simple operating strategy which decouples the solar and fossil-fuel modes of operation is adopted. This choice simplifies the analysis by allowing direct use of previous work 5 ' 6 wherein the optimum configurations for parabolic dish solar power systems using battery storage were delineated. These optimum solar systems constitute a baseline configuration for the solar mode of operation.…”

“…The alternative of providing a large solar system with long storage times is not considered to be cost effective. 6 Given the need for both battery storage and the ability to operate from fossil fuels, key configurational tradeoffs involve the size and number of dish Presented as Paper 81-2549 at the AIAA 2nd Terrestrial Energy Systems Conference, Colorado Springs, Colo., Dec. 1-3, 1981; submitted Jan. 4,1982; revision received April 15, 1982. This paper is declared a work of the U.S. Government and therefore is in the public domain.…”

“…Insolation characteristics affect the performance and economics of solar systems as shown in regional studies, where the operation of solar plants was investigated over a wide range of variations in regional insolation. 6 The proposed MX shelter concept is to be located in the southwestern United States. For purposes of determining first-order trends, the insolation from a particular site, namely, Barstow, Calif., was taken to be representative of the southwestern region.…”

Assessment of generic solar thermal systems for large power applications. Volume II. Analysis of thermal energy production costs for systems from 50 to 600 MWt

“…This location has significantly higher levels of insolation than most other sites in the United States. One previous study (Latta et al 1979) evaluated four of the concepts considered in this analysis (PFCR, PFDR, LFDR-TC, and LCNT) at Barstow and seven other locations around the United States. The results of that study showed that while the cost of energy from any of the systems increases significantly in areas with less insolation, the relative performance of the concepts is essentially unchanged.…”