Abstract
Despite the higher efficiency advantage, the cost reduction of PV technology has been more successful compared to the dish Stirling engine (DSE) due to the large market volume and sturdy competition. Irrespective of the types of source, there exists a potential of waste heat recovery from Stirling engines operating at higher temperature regime. Accordingly, to make DSE commercially viable and efficient, innovative ways such as hybridization (combing a bottoming cycle), Co-generation, Tri-generation etc. need to be explored. In this paper, the techno-economic feasibility of hybridization of a typical solar DSE with a bottoming organic Rankine cycle (ORC) via. a heat recovery vapour generator (HRVG) is explored. The overall energetic and exergetic efficiency of the DSE has been improved by 5.79% and 5.64% while recovering the waste heat through a bottoming ORC. The design and effective incorporation of the HRVG with cooler side of the Stirling engine is identified to be crucial for the overall exergetic performance of solar Stirling-ORC. Further, the economic feasibility of a solar String-ORC combination is evaluated in terms of levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and payback period. Both LCOE and payback period are found to be in comparable range with the PV technology.
Highlights
Renewable energy sources play a vital role in framing policies related to energy security, economic development, environmental protection (3E’s) etc. worldwide [1]
Previous investigations reveal that apart from the irretrievable irreversible losses from the Stirling engine, approximately, 51% of heat is lost as waste heat [8], [14], [19]–[22] and this indicates the possibility of integrating a waste heat recovery device into it
The overall energetic and exergetic efficiency of the dish concentrated Stirling engines (DSE) has been improved by 5.79% and 5.64% while recovering the waste heat through a bottoming organic Rankine cycle (ORC)
Summary
Renewable energy sources play a vital role in framing policies related to energy security, economic development, environmental protection (3E’s) etc. worldwide [1]. Effective and extensive utilization of renewable (solar/wind) energy is one of the most sought-after solutions to achieve the goal of self-sustainable world. Concentrated sunlight is found to be useful for high temperature applications like power production [2], industrial process heating [3] etc. Stirling engine mounted on a parabolic dish concentrator is a stateof-the-art technology by which domestic (1-5kW) and industrial (10-25kW) level electricity can be generated from solar energy. Solar-to-electric conversion of such a device has been recorded to be 29.4% in 1984 (highest recorded solar energy conversion efficiency) [4] and since there has been an interest in the potential of these systems for reliable renewable power generation. In terms of economic viability, parabolic dish concentrated Stirling engines (DSE) are often directly compared with the photovoltaic (PV) technology
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