Improving the efficiency of concentrating solar power systems
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Energy Sector Analysis
The US Department of Energy launched a collaborative effort to build a third-generation Concentrating Solar Power (GEN3 CSP) demonstration site, which will test and validate heat transfer and thermal storage above 700°C.
Improving the efficiency of concentrating solar power systems By Eva Karatairi Feature Editor: Andrea Ambrosini
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esearchers around the world have been investigating alternative materials that can support operation of concentrating solar power (CSP) systems at higher temperatures, and thus higher efficiencies, making concentrating solar electricity cost-competitive compared to photovoltaics and fossil fuel power. Cost reduction of CSP technology requires materials and components that will be stable and function above 700°C, a temperature that surpasses today’s operating conditions by 150 degrees or more. CSP systems capture solar energy as heat that can be converted directly to electricity or stored for later conversion when electricity is in greater demand. The flexibility provided by the ability to store the thermal energy as heat is a unique feature among renewable energy technologies. CSP systems are comprised of sun-tracking mirrors that reflect sunbeams onto a solar receiver. The receiver can be in a number of configurations, including towers, troughs, or dishes. CSP towers have an installed capacity that is increasing worldwide. In a CSP tower plant, a field of mirrors known as heliostats surrounds the solar tower and conentrates the sunlight onto a receiver on the top of the tower. There, the concentrated solar energy heats a heat-transfer fluid (HTF) in the receiver. Through high-temperature liquid-phase pumps and valves, the HTF delivers the thermal energy either to a heat storage tank or transfers it, through a heat exchanger, to a working fluid, such as steam or supercritical CO2, which powers turbines to generate electricity. The US Department of Energy (DOE) launched a program in May 2018 to build a third-generation Concentrating Solar Power tower (GEN3 CSP) demonstration site, which will test and validate heat transfer and thermal storage above 700°C. The technology is designed to lead to commercial systems that will meet the DOE goal to generate electricity at a cost of USD3 cents/kWh by 2030, making CSP competitive to other renewable energy sources. The USD$72 million award is divided into two different topics. In Topic 1, three teams were chosen to develop and demonstrate an integrated high-temperature full-scale GEN3 CSP tower design along one of three paths: gas-phase, (solid) particle, and liquid. In the second topic, smaller, more targeted, R&D projects will support the goal of the first topic by building components for the integrated systems or by testing theory and materials involved in the project. After two years, one of these design pathways will be given the greenlight to proceed to scale up to a demonstration system by 2023. In all pathways, materials are important for the success of the project; the liquid pathway in particular presents sp
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