Performance Analysis of a Hybrid Solar-Geothermal Power Plant in Northern Chile

Abstract

Chile has introduced sustainability goals in its electricity law in response to increased environmental awareness and the need to achieve higher levels of energy security. In northern Chile, the Atacama Desert has a large available surface with high radiation level, while the tectonic activity along the entire country testifies an ample yet unexploited geothermal resource. The novel concept of hybridizing a geothermal power plant with solar energy assistance is presented here for the particular conditions of Northern Chile. A thermodynamic model is developed to estimate the energy production in a hybrid power plant for two different configurations of solar resource use: adding peak power for a constant geothermal output, and saving geothermal resources for a constant power output. The thermodynamic model considers a single-flash geothermal plant with the addition of solar heat from a parabolic trough field. The solar heat is used to produce superheated steam and to produce additional saturated steam from the separator whenever possible. Results indicate that the energy produced by a geothermal well can be increased up to 11.6% and achieve savings of up to 10.3% in the use of geothermal resources by adding solar assistance when using the single flash geothermal technology. Moreover, the optimal mass flow rate of the geothermal plant is decreased when adding solar assistance. It is recommended to exploit solar energy together with geothermal energy wherever possible, to take advantage of each other's strengths and mutually eliminate weaknesses.

The State of the Art: Application of Green Technology in Sustainable Pavement

“…Zhu and Turchi proposed such a harvesting system named centralized solar power (CSP) generation, which uses the harvested solar energy to provide additional thermal energy for the power generation of a geothermal plant [92]. Harvesting both solar and geothermal energy can lead to an increase of 11.6% in the electric output, based on the thermodynamic simulations [93].…”

Development and Analysis of the Novel Hybridization of a Single-Flash Geothermal Power Plant with Biomass Driven sCO2-Steam Rankine Combined Cycle

“…In both of their proposed models, geothermal brine is allowed to pass through the tubes of a Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) field with the purpose of increasing the flow rate of geothermal steam by 10%. Mir et al [ 11 ] developed a thermodynamic model to estimate the production of a hypothetical solar–geothermal power plant in Northern Chile for two different operational modes: (1) Peak Power mode with constant geothermal output where the solar input increases the power output; (2) Save Geothermal Resource mode with constant power output, and the use of geothermal resources decreases with increases in solar input. Note that, although individual authors often used different names for these modes, this naming is used for clarity and consistency within this section.…”

“…Note that, although individual authors often used different names for these modes, this naming is used for clarity and consistency within this section. Mir et al [ 11 ] added solar heat to a single-flash geothermal power plant from a PTC field to produce superheated steam and additional saturated steam from the separator whenever possible. With the assistance of solar heat, up to an 11.6% increase in energy production from the geothermal brine is obtained for the Peak Power mode, whereas savings of up to 10.3% in the use of geothermal resources is obtained for the Save Geothermal Resource mode.…”

Development and Analysis of the Novel Hybridization of a Single Flash Geothermal Power Plant with Biomass Driven sCO2-steam Rankine Combined Cycle

“…In both of their proposed models, geothermal brine is allowed to pass through the tubes of a Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) field with the purpose of increasing the flow rate of geothermal steam 10%. Mir et al [11] developed a thermodynamic model to estimate the production of a hypothetical solar-geothermal power plant in Northern Chile for two different operational modes: 1) Peak Power mode with constant geothermal output where the solar input increases the power output; and 2) Save Geothermal Resource mode with constant power output and the use of geothermal resources decreases with increases in solar input. Note that although individual authors often used different names for these modes, this naming is used for clarity and consistency within this section.…”

“…Note that although individual authors often used different names for these modes, this naming is used for clarity and consistency within this section. Mir et al [11] added solar heat to a single flash geothermal power plant from a PTC field to produce superheated steam and additional saturated steam from the separator whenever possible. With the assistance of the solar heat, up to 11.6% increase in energy production from the geothermal brine is obtained for the Peak Power mode, whereas savings up to 10.3% in the use of geothermal resources is obtained for the Save Geothermal Resource mode.…”