A Model of Integration between a CSP System and a PV Solar Field Sharing a Solid Particles Two-Tanks Thermal Storage

Abstract

The integration of a CSP tower system with a PV solar field, sharing a thermal energy storage, is modeled and discussed. The tower system uses a new-design solid particle fluidized bed receiver integrated with a thermal storage, where hot particles are directly collected to store daily energy for overnight production of electricity. The PV solar field is aimed to supply the daily energy demand; when there is a surplus of PV energy production, the electric energy is converted to heat and accumulated in the thermal storage too. The integration of the two energy systems is modeled, building efficiency functions for all the sub-components of the integrated plant (heliostat field, receiver, storage, power block, PV field). Yearly simulations are performed for two different locations, Spain and Australia, obtaining that a system with a peak power of 10 MWe CSP + 15 MWe PV can supply—with a limited curtailment—a fraction of more than 60% (respectively, 62% and 68%) of a realistic electric load with a peak demand around 10 MW, to be compared with the 45/47% of the same load obtained adopting a PV-only system with the same overall peak power. In the integrated system, PV directly supplies 40/41% of the load, the remaining 23/28% being produced by the power block (mainly fed by the CSP).