The Potential Role of Concentrating Solar Power within the Context of DOE's 2030 Solar Cost Targets

Murphy, Caitlin; Sun, Yiyang; Cole, Wesley; Maclaurin, Galen; Mehos, Mark; Turchi, Craig

doi:10.2172/1491726

Cited by 75 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Furthermore, these LCOE values are very close to the 2020 and 2030 U.S. Department of Energy SunShot CSP target of 6.0 and 5.0 cents kWh e −1 , respectively. [ 26 ] For distributed‐CSP, the Na‐TEC offers a smaller scale alternative to Stirling engines with the possibilities of achieving high efficiencies. The power delivered by Stirling engine scales volumetrically; higher power outputs require larger Stirling engines and thus larger dishes and a higher balance of system cost.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cost‐Performance Analysis of a Sodium Heat Engine for Distributed Concentrating Solar Power

Gunawan

Singh

Simmons

et al. 2020

Advanced Sustainable Systems

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also an option. [3] Instead of burning fuels, concentrating solar power (CSP) [4] can be used to deliver the heat and power in such systems, enabling a carbon-neutral mCHP system. Furthermore, the use of solid-state technologies, such as Na-TEC, to convert energy from CSP exhibits key advantages over the more mature and economically viable turbomachinery used in current CSP systems. [5] In addition to being carbonneutral, the principle difference between solid-state energy conversion and turbomachinery is the lack of moving parts, which can strongly impact the system lifespan and maintenance requirements, and by extension, the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). A sodium thermal electrochemical converter (Na-TEC), which is a special variant of an alkali metal thermal-electric converter, [6] can theoretically achieve thermodynamic conversion efficiencies above 45% and rejects heat at a sufficiently high temperature (≈550 K), [7] making it amenable to mCHP applications. [8] Na-TECs convert heat directly into electricity, without moving parts, via the isothermal expansion of Na ions through a beta″-alumina solid-electrolyte (BASE). [6] In the Na-TEC, heat vaporizes Na near ambient pressure in an evaporator. A thermally generated pressure difference drives Na ions through the converter. At the triple phase boundary of Na-anode-BASE, the Na atoms ionize (Na → Na + + e − ) and the electrons simultaneously traverse an external load. A thermally generated pressure difference drives Na ions through the converter. The electrons and ions then recombine on the cathode-BASE interface and the Na atoms return to the vapor phase at lower pressure. This low pressure Na vapor is then cooled and condensed to the liquid phase in a condenser and a wick passively returns the liquid Na to the evaporator. The isothermal ion expansion process, where heat is directly converted to work, is responsible for the high ideal efficiency of this cycle. In one of our separate publications, [7] we reviewed the technical operation of this conventional single-stage Na-TEC and revisited the equations that describe it in more detail. We also reviewed and discussed the key factors and challenges that affect the performance of singlestage Na-TEC. More recently we showed that a multistage Na-TEC can achieve a high practical conversion efficiency by lowering the average device temperature, which in turn reduces A sodium thermal electrochemical converter (Na-TEC) generates electricity directly from heat through isothermal expansion of sodium ions across a beta″-alumina solid-electrolyte. This heat engine has been considered for use with conventional concentrating solar power (CSP) systems before. However, unlike previous single-stage devices, the improved design uses two stages with an interstage reheat, allowing more economical and efficient conversion up to 29% at a hot side temperature of 850 °C. Herein, a cost-performance analysis for this improved design assesses opportunities for distributed-CSP in the context of micro-combined heat and power syste...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cost‐Performance Analysis of a Sodium Heat Engine for Distributed Concentrating Solar Power

Gunawan

Singh

Simmons

et al. 2020

Advanced Sustainable Systems

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“…The CSP resource and technical potential are based on the latest version of NSRDB. Details of the CSP resource data and technology representation can be found in Appendix B of Murphy et al (2019). By default, recirculating and dry cooling systems are allowed for future CSP plants getting built in ReEDS.…”

Section: Concentrating Solar Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) Model Documentation: Version 2019

Brown

Cole

Newman

et al. 2020

Self Cite

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We gratefully acknowledge the many people whose efforts contributed to this report. The ReEDS modeling and analysis team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was active in developing and testing the ReEDS model version 2019. We also acknowledge the vast number of current and past NREL employees on and beyond the ReEDS team who have participated in data and model development, testing, and analysis. We are especially grateful to Walter Short who first envisioned and developed the Wind Deployment System (WinDS) and ReEDS models. We thank

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“…The CSP technical potential is derived from Table 13 of Murphy et al (2019), which calculates the available resource at 16,691 GW. To calculate the technical generation potential, the available resource is multiplied by the given capacity factor (which corresponds to a solar multiple of 1) and the solar multiple of 2.4 assumed in the System Advisor Model default case (see Murphy et al 2019 for details).…”

Section: Solar Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The geographic distribution of hydrogen production potential from CSP is shown in Figure 12. Due to lack of empirical data on land exclusions for CSP, a modified set of exclusions from onshore wind were assumed (Murphy et al 2019). CSP installations were assumed to only occur if at least 5 km 2 of contiguous area are available and if the topography indicates a slope of 3% or less (Murphy et al 2019).…”

Section: Solar Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%