Abstract
Small-scale hybrid parabolic dish concentrated solar power systems are a promising option to obtain distributed electricity. During the day, solar energy is used to produce electricity, and the absence of sunlight can be overwhelmed with fuel combustion. This study presents a thermo-economic survey for a hybridized power plant in different regions of Spain, considering the local climatic conditions. The developed model considers the instant solar irradiance and ambient temperature dynamically, providing an estimation of the power output, the associated fuel consumption, and the most relevant pollutant emissions linked to combustion. Hybrid and combustion-only operating modes at selected geographical locations in Spain (with different latitudes, mean solar irradiances, and meteorological conditions) are analyzed. The levelized cost of electricity indicator is estimated as a function of investment, interest rate, maintenance, and fuel consumption actual costs in Spain. Values of about 124 €/MWhe are feasible. Fuel consumption and emissions in hybrid operation can be reduced above 30% with respect to those of the same turbine working in a pure combustion mode. This model shows the potential of hybrid solar dishes to become cost-competitive against non-renewable technologies from the point of view of costs and reduction in gas emission levels in regions with high solar radiation and low water resources.
Highlights
With respect to the production and consumption of electrical energy, the unavoidable future change from the traditional supply-demand model to a new scheme based on smart grids or the micro-grid concept is recognized
The hybridization of a solar thermal power system with combustion provides a continuous supply of electricity throughout the year, with much lower investment and maintenance costs than thermal storage [5]
The first aim of this study is to present a model for the estimation of the performance and thermo-economic indicators of a small-scale parabolic dish plant for distributed generation
Summary
With respect to the production and consumption of electrical energy, the unavoidable future change from the traditional supply-demand model to a new scheme based on smart grids or the micro-grid concept is recognized. The model intends to be precise, but at the same time simple enough to allow performing different sensitivity analysis on the influence of the main parameters of any of the subsystems (dish, receiver, gas turbine, combustion chamber, heat exchangers, etc.) on final output records It integrates all subsystems in a straightforward way, with a reduced number of parameters. After an analysis of the optical subsystem and the regime conditions for the thermodynamic model based on previous developments [21,22], off-design simulations are performed for an annual evaluation in different locations The purpose of this assessment is to analyze the subsystems’ efficiencies, the global efficiency, the annual energy production, the average solar share, or the specific CO2 emissions from combustion.
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