Hybrid Solar Power Plant Research Articles

Multi-objective optimisation and guidelines for the design of dispatchable hybrid solar power plants with thermochemical energy storage

The drive to net zero energy requires high renewable penetration but most renewables are either affordable or dispatchable but not both. Thermochemical energy storage integrated into concentrating solar power plants can enhance dispatchability and solar-to-electricity efficiency. Combining these technologies with lower cost photovoltaic plants exploits synergies related to dispatchability and costs. However, this combination leads to complex interactions between the different power plant components and requires sophisticated design guidelines to simultaneously achieve low costs and high dispatchability. Here, we develop multi-objective optimisations and guidelines for the design of hybrid solar power plants with a calcium-looping thermochemical energy storage system. The presented tools focus on the optimisation of the design and operation of hybrid power plants with respect to competing technical and financial performance metrics. First, the design optimisation stage evaluates ten design variables and three objectives. Then, the operational optimisation stage, which is nested inside the design stage, finds the best one-year hourly operational strategy for each configuration considered in the first stage. We evaluated three case studies with different solar resource: Seville (Spain), Tonopah (United States), and the Atacama Desert (Chile). The best dispatchable hybrid solar power plant with Levelised cost of electricity of 123 USD⋅MWh−1 and a capacity factor of 73% is reached for the Atacama Desert, which has the best solar resource. The optimisation results are used to develop guidelines for the optimal design of dispatchable hybrid solar power plants with calcium-looping based on the given solar resource and required dispatchability. These guidelines provide an initial design for affordable and dispatchable hybrid solar power plants and can enable their widespread deployment.

Techno-economic analysis of a hybrid solar Thermal-PV power plant

This paper introduces a new combination of solar fields to reduce LCOE and increase solar share. One Solar Field (PTC or LFR) with molten salt as heat transfer fluid is used to store energy during the day, and two independent LFRs are used for direct steam generation for high-pressure turbines and low-pressure turbines. Due to the low price of natural gas, using solar field is not economical, and using thermal energy storage is affordable only for a higher price of natural gas. The PTC with a lower energy storage than LFR has a higher solar share, but using LFR is more economical. In this paper, the effects of several parameters on the LCOE are investigated, and the key factors are introduced. According to the results, three independent LFRs create the best combination to meet the required energy. The LCOE of a photovoltaic power-plant is less than the LCOE of a solar thermal one, but the photovoltaic power plant cannot supply the energy needed at night. Therefore, in the end, to further increase system performance and reduce the LCOE, the solar thermal power-plant is combined with a photovoltaic system and the effects of using different sizes of photovoltaic power-plant on the hybrid system are investigated.

ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF ENERGY IN GREEN TOURISM

The article considers promising areas of green tourism development in Vinnytsia region. Describes a number of extremely unique and interesting objects that are little known to tourists. These include the «Illinets astroblem» ˗ craters at the site of a meteorite fall 400 million years ago. The crater is located between the villages of Ivanky, Lypovets district and Luhovo, Illinets district. They arose as a result of the fall to Earth of a cosmic body with an approximate weight of 40 million tons. The diameter of the meteorite is about 230 - 300 m. At the time of the fall, the meteorite was divided into 3 parts. As a result, 13 craters appeared. The largest of them have diameters of 7-10 km. According to experts, the initial depth of the largest crater was about 800 m. The local places are witnesses of a unique phenomenon of planetary scale and are interesting for the tourist business. There are no analogues to Ilyinets Crater in the world. The problems of exhaustion of traditional energy sources are analyzed, and in this connection the inevitable increase in their price. The necessity of wide introduction of alternative energy in the field of green rural tourism is proved. The use of autonomous, network and hybrid solar semiconductor power plants is. promising. Grid-connected solar power plants as an object of solar energy can be used both to generate electricity for household consumption and for the purpose of further sale to the national grid at a green tariff. It is shown that the introduction of solar energy by tourism businesses significantly increases their profits and competitiveness, reduces electricity costs, significantly improves the quality of services, increases the level of tourist service in rural areas. The need for state support and investment for the development of renewable energy sources in rural areas and green rural tourism is substantiated.

Strategies for effective cooling of photovoltaic panels integrated with solar chimney

Solar chimney is a self-functioning technology to meet human’s daily power requirements. These days research on solar chimney for power generation has been more focused among scientific community. Many previous designs have been proposed to increase the performance of the solar chimney. To increase the turbine power Pwt generation the airflow velocity V at the turbine location has to be enhanced as Pwt∝V3. The present study demonstrated a numerical study of hybrid solar chimney power plant (HSCPP) where collector inlet has been integrated with bell-mouth shape opening and photovoltaic (PV) panel at the collector bottom. New hybrid designs of converging collector channel-divergent chimney integrated with bell-mouth design inlet improved the flow velocity by 71% and decreases the PV panel temperature by 8–12 °C. The increased flow velocity enhances the turbine power output beyond 200%.

Recovering waste heat of a solar hybrid power plant using a Kalina cycle and desalination unit: A sustainability (emergo-economic and emergo-environmenal) approach

One of the most critical issues in configuration selection, design, and optimization of energy systems is access to an efficient system considering all the sustainability limitations. Therefore, in this paper, three scenarios for utilizing the waste heat from a solar gas turbine power plant with a sustainability approach have been investigated. In these scenarios, the waste heat is used as a heat source of a Kalina cycle, a multi-effect water desalination (MED) unit, and combined Kalina/MED, respectively. For the analysis of these scenarios, the thermodynamic modeling is performed, and in the next step, emergo-economic and emergo-environmenal analysis is performed. To evaluate the modeling, the results have been verified using other researches. Based on the mentioned modeling methods, the considered scenarios have been compared with each other from different aspects, and the best configuration has been selected. In the final step, the multi-objective optimizations were performed to maximize energy efficiency, monetary performance, and ecological performance of the proposed cycles. For optimization, a robust optimization algorithm, particle swarm optimization (PSO), is implemented. The results show that using both the Kalina cycle and desalination unit can improve the energy and exergy efficiency of the plant by 11.4 and 6.02. However, the case where only the desalination unit was employed had the highest monetary and ecological performance by 87.25 and 88.11%, which were increased to 90.3 and 97.8% after the optimization, showing a significant improvement compared to the base cycle.

Performance evaluation of external fired hybrid solar gas-turbine power plant in Colombia using energy and exergy methods

Hydro and thermal generation power systems dominate the Colombian electricity sector. In 2017, Colombia installed electrical generation capacity was 16.8 GW. Renewable energy sources represent at least 85% of the total generation, being hydro the principal source. Several alternatives had been evaluated through the years to improve the Colombian energy matrix and capacity, including solar photovoltaic and wind plants; despite that, no consensus about the appropriate solution in terms of the available resource, energy demand, and energy mix has been attained. Thermosolar power plants arise as an alternative to produce energy in sites where nearly constant solar irradiance throughout the year is available, which is the case for most Colombian cities. This work concerned the evaluation of a single-stage hybrid Central Solar Power (CSP) plant at a location on the Caribbean Colombian coast. The study is focused on establishing the effect of local environmental conditions (ambient temperature and solar resource availability), as well as some operational cycle parameters (heat exchanger effectiveness and the system pressure ratio) on the CSP plant performance. Additionally, site emplacement conditions, i.e., proximity to the power grid, presence of conventional thermal power plants, proximity to principal cities, and availability of natural gas), are also considered to attain the factors that might constrain the plant optimal operating conditions. The CSP plant and the Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) model results obtained fitted in good agreement the experimental data from the literature used for validation. Results have shown a global plant efficiency of 35% without solar resource which is reduced to 30% when solar contribution attains its maximum value at midday. Additionally, fuel-saving per day varies between 9.21% and 6.3% during the months of maximum and minimum global radiation, respectively. Finally, that the combustion chamber, its associated heat exchanger and the one that is in direct exchange with the surroundings, are the components with the most exergy destruction, as expected. From the above, it is sensible to explore alternatives regarding different working fluids that could be used in lower temperature cycles and other applications for heat recovery.

Conventional and Advanced Exergy-Based Analysis of Hybrid Geothermal–Solar Power Plant Based on ORC Cycle

Today, as fossil fuels are depleted, renewable energy must be used to meet the needs of human beings. One of the renewable energy sources is undoubtedly the solar–geothermal power plant. In this paper, the conventional and advanced, exergo-environmental and exergo-economic analysis of a geothermal–solar hybrid power plant (SGHPP) based on an organic Rankin cycle (ORC) cycle is investigated. In this regard, at first, a conventional analysis was conducted on a standalone geothermal cycle (first mode), as well as a hybrid solar–geothermal cycle (second mode). The results of exergy destruction for simulating the standalone geothermal cycle showed that the ORC turbine with 1050 kW had the highest exergy destruction that was 38% of the total share of destruction. Then, the ORC condenser with 26% of the total share of exergy destruction was in second place. In the hybrid geothermal–solar cycle, the solar panel had the highest environmental impact and about 56% of the total share of exergy destruction. The ORC turbine had about 9% of all exergy destruction. The results of the advanced analysis of exergy in the standalone geothermal cycle showed that the avoidable exergy destruction of the condenser was the highest. In the hybrid geothermal–solar cycle, the solar panel, steam economizer and steam evaporator were ranked first to third from an avoidable exergy destruction perspective. The avoidable exergo-economic destruction of the evaporator and pump were higher than the other components. The hybrid geothermal–solar cycle, steam economizer, solar pane and steam evaporator were ranked first to third, respectively, and they could be modified. The avoidable exergo-environmental destruction of the ORC turbine and the ORC pump were the highest, respectively. In the hybrid geothermal–solar cycle, steam economizers, solar panel and steam evaporators had the highest avoidable exergy destruction, respectively. For the standalone geothermal cycle, the total endogenous exergy destruction and exogenous exergy destruction was 83.61% and 16.39%. Moreover, from an exergo-economic perspective, 89% of the total destruction rate was endogenous and 11% was exogenous. From an exergo-environmental perspective, 88.73% of the destruction rate was endogenous and 11.27% was exogenous. For the hybrid geothermal–solar cycle, the total endogenous and exogenous exergy destruction was 75.08% and 24.92%, respectively. Moreover, 81.82% of the exergo-economic destruction rate was endogenous and 18.82% was exogenous. From an exergo-environmental perspective, 81.19% of the exergy destruction was endogenous and 18.81% was exogenous.

Dynamic optimization and economic evaluation of flexible heat integration in a hybrid concentrated solar power plant

Hybridization of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants provides flexibility in operation that can drastically improve the solar-to-electric (STE) efficiency and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) relative to standalone CSP plants. Flexible heat integration (FHI) is a novel concept where the collection and integration of CSP within a power plant is modified relative to the amount of solar energy available. FHI improves the thermal efficiency of a hybrid solar tower steam Rankine cycle power plant but leads to increased pumping needs due to continuously elevated molten salt flow rates through the collection system, which can negatively impact STE efficiency. The present work is carried out to maximize the STE efficiency of a hybrid CSP plant utilizing FHI by employing a dynamic optimization framework where a genetic algorithm optimizes the operation of the plant over a given solar irradiance profile. The study concerns a plant hypothetically located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The optimization results confirm the accuracy of a predictive heuristic where the preferred operation of the plant can be estimated relative to local peaks in the incident power generated by the heliostat collection field. The optimized FHI operation demonstrates a yearly STE efficiency of 13.8%, whereas the equivalent base-level hybrid and solar-only plants exhibit solar efficiencies of 13.4% and 11.2%, respectively. Economic analysis shows that FHI reduces yearly natural gas costs, leading to a $0.5/MWh reduction in LCOE relative to the base-level hybrid configuration. Overall, the results show that hybrid FHI schemes exhibit economic benefits along with observed thermodynamic improvements.

Bio-energy Carriers as Back-up Fuel in Hybrid Solar Power Plants

Electricity from concentrated solar power (CSP) plants, gains an increasing interest and importance. To fully match the supply-demand principle, CSP processes include a thermal energy storage and back-up fuel supply. Novel CSP concepts are needed with specific targets of increased efficiency and reliability, and of reduced CAPEX and OPEX. The use of particle suspensions offers significant advantages since applicable in all sub-sections of the complete CSP as heat carrier from the receiver, to the heat storage, and ultimately to the power block. The use of particles in the steam generation (power block) is a common fluidized bed boiler technology. This paper will present the entire particle-based concept, while also discussing the potential to use biomass-based energy carriers as back-up heat supply. Process data and expected effects on the process economy of the system will be discussed.

Performance enhancement strategies of a hybrid solar chimney power plant integrated with photovoltaic panel

This paper examines the possibility of integrating a photovoltaic (PV) module in a hybrid solar chimney power plant (HSCPP). Since HSCPP is a greenhouse thermal buoyancy-driven system, the surrounding high temperature environment makes PV module temperature extremely high resulting in lower electrical conversion efficiency. Various design configurations of collector duct and solar chimney are investigated using an experimentally validated numerical model to study the PV panel cooling and turbine power output. The results show that turbine power output is sensitive to diverging the chimney up to maximum static pressure recovery limit while PV module shows marginal increase in electrical efficiency. Converging the collector duct alone shows worst turbine and PV module performance. However, in case of combine designs of converging duct and divergent chimney, considerable improvement of PV panel efficiency (about 7%) was observed. The results show that about 80% of the collector area measured from the chimney axis are the most effective region for cooling the PV module where consistent temperature drop of 10–12 °C was observed. A design map vs. PV panel efficiency has been shown charting future directions for designing such energy efficient hybrid solar chimney systems.

Performance Evaluation of Lead Acid Battery -Backup Power System of Solar Hybrid Power Plant

This work is concentrated on determining and evaluating the performance of the lead acid battery energy storage system of the solar hybrid power plant existing at Bahir Dar University. Evaluating the performance of solar battery energy storage system and other integrated units in a stand-alone or grid connected solar power plants having prominent significance and contribution with respect to adapting and utilizing the indispensable solar power (PV) technology in Ethiopia. The battery performance evaluation was done by analyzing the long day performance data of the battery backup unit and by carrying out experimental discharging operation. The battery backup unit performance evaluation was done by analyzing the long day performance, the battery efficiency, charging factor, depth of discharge and capacity of the battery. The results shows that the battery was charged without being discharged a number of times. This can be the result of loss energy by self-discharge of the battery, or wrong setting in recording of input output values or failure of the Xtender inverter charger RCC - 02/03 recording, displaying and control units..

Assessment of time resolution impact on the modeling of a hybrid CSP-PV plant: A case of study in Chile

This study analyzes the time resolution impact on the modeling of a hybrid CSP-PV plant integrated with thermal storage and a battery bank for two locations in Chile. Daily and annual results were evaluated varying the time resolution from 1, 5, 10, 15, 30 to 60 min, as well as the capacity factor and LCOE. In this way, the CSP plant was the component most affected by the time resolution, followed by the battery dispatch, while the effect on PV production estimation was marginal. Control procedures of the receiver and power block were more realistically captured with time steps between 1 and 5 min, while with higher time steps, variability effects were neglected. Annual and techno-economic results indicate an overestimation of the total yearly production of the hybrid plant as the time step is increased, leading to an underestimation of the LCOE. Variations in the capacity factor and LCOE were around ±2–3% in both locations using the 5-minute time step (with respect to the 1-min results), and between ±4–6% using 10–60 min time steps. Different cases of study varying the dispatch strategy and components sizing were evaluated, showing that time resolution impact is lower for oversized PV configurations with respect to the CSP plant, and higher when the CSP plant is oversized with respect to the PV, regardless the dispatch strategy. Finally, this work provides some recommendations analyzing the advantages and drawbacks of implementing different time steps at each stage in the development of a hybrid solar power plant.

STUDI PEMAKAIAN DAYA SOLAR CELL-HYBRID OFF GRID GEDUNG LABORATORIUM ENERGI SURYA-JURUSAN TEKNIK KONVERSI ENERGI-POLBAN


 
 
 
 Solar energy is a renewable source that has never been exhausted, this energy will not reveal pollution into environment such as another power plant. Solar Power Plant is one of renewable source that become on alternative source in the future. One of application of this system is Hybrid Solar Power Plant, this power plant it is use to accomplish electricity energy consumption in Solar Laboratory Energy Conversion Engineering POLBAN with benefitted solar energy as electricity energy soarce. Electricity of energy there is resulted dependent on high and low solar light intensity. This paper is analyzed for both of supply and demand electricity in Laboratory of Solar Energy - Energy Conservation Engineering Department-POLBAN.
 
 
 

Testing of Solar –Wind Energy Hybrid System Small Scale

Electrical energy sources are currently declining so that renewable energy is environmentally friendly as an alternative energy source. This paper aims to test the charging of a hybrid system based on the prototype of a hybrid solar power plant and wind/wind energy as an alternative energy source. The method of carrying out the activity is carried out by charging the system to the accumulator when the wind speed is capable of turning the turbine and filling the accumulator and at the wind speed that is not able to fill the accumulator with a hybrid system. This research was conducted at Akarena Beach Makassar in the dry season. The results showed that testing of hybrid generators with parallel solar panels totalling 4 pieces @ 50 Watt peak (Wp) to 200 Watt peak (Wp) was able to charge 4 accumulators connected parallel @ 18 Ah or 72 Ah for ± 10 hours in sunny conditions with a charging current of 7.39 Amperes at wind speeds of 1-3 m / s and at wind speeds of 5-7 m / s the magnitude of the charging current reaches 8.02 Amperes at 15:00 to 17:00, thus, the charging time becomes faster after the turbine works with wind speeds above 5 m / sec.

A novel integrated solar gas turbine trigeneration system for production of power, heat and cooling: Thermodynamic-economic-environmental analysis

This article introduces the results of a thermodynamic-economic-environmental analysis of conventional and integrated solar gas turbine trigeneration power plants based on parabolic trough collectors. The trigeneration plants are required to produce electricity with 90 MWe (from steam-turbines), 2500 kg/s of chilled water at 7 °C and 10 bars, and 34.8 kg/s of industrial process steam at 500 °C and 27.6 bars. The hourly and yearly performance of the considered plants with different gas turbine and solar field sizes have been examined and presented. In addition, a conceptual procedure to identify the optimal solar integration configuration has been developed and presented. Furthermore, the off-design behavior and regional potential of the optimally solar integration configuration have been assessed. The study reveals that the optimal configuration is the integration of 126 ha of parabolic trough collector’s solar field (46.2 ha of the total active aperture area) with the trigeneration plant of 130 MWe gas turbine size, which gives a levelled electricity cost of 5.75 USȻ/kWh with 114 k-tonne reduction of the annual CO2 emissions. Moreover, the study shows that the most proper location to utilize the solar hybrid power plants is in locations with high levels of solar irradiance and low ambient temperature.

Planning of Hybrid Micro-Hydro and Solar Photovoltaic Systems for Rural Areas of Central Java, Indonesia

This paper proposes the planning of hybrid micro-hydro and solar photovoltaic system for rural areas of Central Java, Indonesia. The Indonesian government has paid great attention to the development of renewable energy sources, especially solar and hydropower. One area that has a high potential for both types of energy is the province of Central Java, located on the island of Java, Indonesia. In this research, we conduct field research to determine the ideal capacity of solar and micro-hydro hybrid power plants, electricity load analysis, and optimal design of hybrid power plants. Data on the potential of micro-hydro plants are obtained by direct measurement on the Ancol Bligo irrigation channel located in Bligo village, Ngluwar district, Magelang regency, Central Java province, Indonesia. Data on solar power potential were obtained from NASA’s database for solar radiation in the Central Java region. Hydropower potential data include channel length, debit, heads, and power potential in irrigation channels originating from rivers. These data are used to design an optimal hybrid power plant. The method used to obtain the optimal design of a hybrid power plant system is based on the analysis of capital costs, grid sales, cost of energy, and net present cost. Based on the parameters of the analysis, the composition of the optimal generator for the on-grid scheme to the distribution network can be determined. The results showed that hybrid power plants were able to meet the needs of electrical energy in the villages around the power plant and that the excess energy could be sold to national electricity providers.

The use of green energy for energy conservation in high-rise buildings

The article discusses technical proposals for energy saving in high-rise buildings based on the use of “green” energy. These include: the use of hybrid wind and solar power plants and vortex wind-driven power plants with a vertical axis to utilize both the energy of horizontal wind flows at height level and the energy of ascending airflows. The general principles of building hybrid wind and solar power plants for energy conservation in high-rise buildings are set forth based on the analysis of prior art. These include the following: to ensure safe operation and the absence of tele-interruptions, it is advisable to close the wind turbines with a dome design that has a cavity that captures the wind flow; to ensure environmental friendliness and ease of management, it is advisable to use a variety of vertical vortex wind turbines of modular design; for efficient use of solar energy, it is advisable to integrate photovoltaic cells into the outer structure of the dome; To reduce the cost of the project, it is advisable to use the existing high-rise buildings. A vortex wind power installation is proposed, which allows the use of small winds and low-potential thermal flows, to reduce low-frequency vibration, to increase the stability and efficiency of use of wind energy with ease of installation, maintenance and repair.

Modeling the efficiency and emissions of a hybrid solar-gas power plant

In this paper, modeling and analysis of a hybrid solar power plant are presented. Within a theoretical framework, thermodynamic modeling of several components of the cycles has been conducted through simultaneous consideration of energy, exergy, and emissions. The energy and exergy of the combined cycle of the solar-gas turbine and organic Rankine cycle (ORC) have been investigated. Heat loss from the solar receiver has been studied considering essential factors such as wind speed, air pressure, and ambient temperature. The emissions, mass flow rate of working fluids, pressure ratio, and concentration ratio are evaluated and compared with a standard fossil-fueled power plant. The results show that the energy efficiency and exergy of the overall system are substantially improved as the solar radiation intensity increases. Furthermore, the output power of the ORC is reported to be higher than that of the Rankin steam cycle. Consequently, when solar energy is used, the carbon dioxide emission is reduced by 150%.

Hybrid solar power plant with thermochemical energy storage: A multi-objective operational optimisation

Energy storage is key to decarbonising the energy sector by reducing intermittency and increasing the integration of renewable energy. Thermochemical energy storage (TCES) integrated with concentrated solar and photovoltaic power plants, has the potential to provide dispatchable and competitive energy. Here we develop a multi-objective optimisation framework to find the best operational strategy of a hybrid solar power plant with a TCES system. The model uses a typical meteorological year to optimise one-year hourly operation. The results demonstrate that the integration of a calcium-looping process as TCES in a concentrated solar power plant provides dispatchability and, when hybridised with photovoltaic, enhances its competitiveness with current electricity prices. The low mismatch between supply and demand, even when a fixed commitment is required throughout the year, together with a high overall efficiency, indicates that the integration of calcium-looping in hybrid solar power plants is an opportunity to increase the penetration of solar energy in the power sector. Through the optimisation framework presented, a seasonal energy storage analysis can be developed, although a second optimisation stage is required to improve the sizing of the main components of the system in order to further reduce the energy costs.

Thermodynamics Analysis of Solar-Rice Husk Hybrid Power Plant

The main objective of this study is to make thermodynamics analysis of different components of solar rice husk hybrid power plant with its modification of structure by implementing a Rice Husk Dryer between the Condensate Pre-heater and Air Pre Heater in order to feed dry rice husk to furnace and performance evaluation of power plant with respect to reduction of moisture content of rice husk using MATLAB, R2016a. The flue gas is passed to the Rice Husk Dryer, where the heat of flue gas is used to dry the rice husk before feeding to the furnace. Solar energy is limited to a 50% share in the daytime. In this research solar parabolic collector and Rice, husk feed is arranged in a parallel to produce steam. Feeding with dry rice husk in the furnace was found to reduce the heat loss due to heating moisture present in rice husk up to furnace temperature and also heat loss due to excess air supplied to the furnace for evaporating and superheating the moisture present in the rice husk. The increase in furnace efficiency, fuel efficiency, thermal efficiency and plant efficiency, reduction in specific rice husk consumption, reduction in excess air supply and decrease in rice husk consumption, etc. with respect to reduction in the moisture content of rice husk for the power plant are evaluated. The result showed that with the reduction of moisture from 10% to 90%, the power plant efficiency is to be increased by 6.97% to 64.86% for boiler pressure of 50 bar.