Making the sun shine at night: comparing the cost of dispatchable concentrating solar power and photovoltaics with storage

Schöniger, Franziska; Thonig, Richard; Resch, Gustav; Lilliestam, Johan

doi:10.1080/15567249.2020.1843565

Cited by 68 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The costs for solar thermal systems, however, tend to be significantly higher than the ones estimated here and tolerances to tracking errors much smaller, thus a more complex and costly design would likely be required [105]. As a result, per kWh electricity costs tend to be higher than with solar PV when storage requirements are smaller than 3 h/day, such as in the targeted implementation, with much higher maintenance needs [106].…”

Section: Comparison To Alternativesmentioning

confidence: 95%

SPEAR (Solar Pyrolysis Energy Access Reactor): Theoretical Design and Evaluation of a Small-Scale Low-Cost Pyrolysis Unit for Implementation in Rural Communities

Caputo

Mašek

2021

Energies

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Energy access and waste management are two of the most pressing developmental and environmental issues on a global level to help mitigate the accelerating impacts of climate change. They are particularly relevant in Sub–Saharan Africa where electrification rates are significantly below global averages and rural areas are lacking a formal waste management sector. This paper explores the potential of integrating solar energy into a biomass pyrolysis unit as a potentially synergetic solution to both issues. The full design of a slow pyrolysis batch reactor targeted at biochar production, following a strict cost minimization approach, is presented in light of the relevant considerations. SPEAR is powered using a Cassegrain optics parabolic dish system, integrated into the reactor via a manual tracking system and optically optimized with a Monte-Carlo ray tracing methodology. The design approach employed has led to the development an overall cost efficient system, with the potential to achieve optical efficiencies up 72% under a 1.5° tracking error. The outputs of the system are biochar and electricity, to be used for soil amendment and energy access purposes, respectively. There is potential to pyrolyze a number of agricultural waste streams for the region, producing at least 5 kg of biochar per unit per day depending on the feedstock employed. Financial assessment of SPEAR yields a positive Net Present Value (NPV) in nearly all scenarios evaluated and a reasonable competitiveness with small scale solar for electrification objectives. Finally, SPEAR presents important positive social and environmental externalities and should be feasibly implementable in the region in the near term.

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Section: Comparison To Alternativesmentioning

confidence: 95%

SPEAR (Solar Pyrolysis Energy Access Reactor): Theoretical Design and Evaluation of a Small-Scale Low-Cost Pyrolysis Unit for Implementation in Rural Communities

Caputo

Mašek

2021

Energies

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“…Sustainable energy systems required distributed renewable energy resources. Photovoltaic energy is one of the most abundant renewable energy source around the world 20 . Pakistan is a developing country that receive roughly 15.52 × 10 14 kWh of solar energy per year, with a daily sunshine duration of 7.50–10.50 h 21 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Photovoltaic energy is one of the most abundant renewable energy source around the world. 20 Pakistan is a developing country that receive roughly 15.52 Â 10 14 kWh of solar energy per year, with a daily sunshine duration of 7.50-10.50 h. 21 PV distributed energy generation system are help to make a positive contribution and achieve long-term sustainability in developing countries. PV distributed energy generation system integration into the national utility grid will help to meet the rising energy demand.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Photovoltaic distributed generation integrated electrical distribution system for development of sustainable energy using reliability assessment indices and levelized cost of electricity

Tamoor

Tahir

Zaka³

et al. 2022

Env Prog and Sustain Energy

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Reliability assessment index is one of the main performance indicator for analyzing the impact of distributed energy generation system in the utility distribution system and minimize the costs associated with energy interruptions. In this study, sustainable energy development by using integrated photovoltaic distributed generation (DG) system considering reliability assessment indices and levelized cost of energy are presented. Electrical transient and analysis program simulation software are used for evaluation and assessment of the reliability indices based on the failure rate, average annual power interruption/outage time and repair time. The analytical method are used to evaluate the expected interruption cost (ECOST) of the system. HelioScope software is a photovoltaic simulation tool are used to design and calculate the energy generation (kWh) as well as global horizontal irradiation (kWh/m2) of the photovoltaic system. Experimental test system is a radial distribution network consisting of an 11.0 kV feeder emanating from 132.0 kV distribution grid station Satiana. According to the reliability evaluation and assessment of experimental test system before integration of photovoltaic distributed energy generation, the average service availability index (ASAI) is 0.9648 per unit. Then, the expected energy not supplied (EENS) is 772.0308 MWh per year and ECOST is 386,652,468.18 PKR per year. After integration of Photovoltaic DG, ASAI is 0.9741 per unit, then the EENS is 563.8584 MWh per year and integration ECOST is 227,087,143.39 PKR per year. The results showed that integrated PV DG system improve the reliability of conventional energy distribution systems.

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“…Hence, such hybrid sensible/TC systems using oxide-gas reactions have the potential of greatly shrinking the size of storage subsystems/tanks. This becomes especially relevant for longer storage durations, where the combination of CSP and thermal storage may be most competitive with regards to LCOE, for example, in comparison to PV and battery storage (Schöniger et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Techno-Economic Analysis of Candidate Oxide Materials for Thermochemical Storage in Concentrating Solar Power Systems

et al. 2021

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The thermal storage capability is an important asset of state-of-the-art concentrating solar power plants. The use of thermochemical materials, such as redox oxides, for hybrid sensible/thermochemical storage in solar power plants offers the potential for higher specific volume and mass storage capacity and as a consequence reduced levelized cost of electricity making such plants more competitive. For the techno-economic system analysis, three candidate redox materials were analyzed for their cost reduction potential: cobalt-based, manganese–iron–based, and perovskite-based oxide materials. As a reference process the use of inert commercial bauxite particles (sensible-only storage) was considered. A solar thermal power plant with a nominal power of 125 MWe and a storage capacity of 12 h was assumed for the analysis. For each storage material a plant layout was made, taking the specific thermophysical properties of the material into account. Based on this layout a particle break-even cost for the specific material was determined, at which levelized cost of electricity parity is achieved with the reference system. Cost factors mainly influenced by the material selection are storage cost and steam generator cost. The particle transport system cost has only a minor impact. The results show differences in the characteristics of the materials, for example, regarding the impact on storage size and cost and the steam generator cost. Regarding the economic potential of the candidate redox materials, the perovskite-based particles promise to have advantages, as they might be produced from inexpensive raw materials.

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Making the sun shine at night: comparing the cost of dispatchable concentrating solar power and photovoltaics with storage

Cited by 68 publications

References 41 publications

SPEAR (Solar Pyrolysis Energy Access Reactor): Theoretical Design and Evaluation of a Small-Scale Low-Cost Pyrolysis Unit for Implementation in Rural Communities

SPEAR (Solar Pyrolysis Energy Access Reactor): Theoretical Design and Evaluation of a Small-Scale Low-Cost Pyrolysis Unit for Implementation in Rural Communities

Photovoltaic distributed generation integrated electrical distribution system for development of sustainable energy using reliability assessment indices and levelized cost of electricity

Techno-Economic Analysis of Candidate Oxide Materials for Thermochemical Storage in Concentrating Solar Power Systems

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