Integrating Supercritical CO2 with Concentrating Solar Power

Integrating Supercritical CO2 with Concentrating Solar Power
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Integrating Supercritical CO2 with Concentrating Solar Power
Solar-thermal and photovoltaic (PV) systems are the two primary types of solar power. In particular, solar-thermal converts heat from solar energy into alternating current (DC), while PV uses solid-state cells that convert light into direct current (DC). Concentrating solar power (CSP) is a solar-thermal system that is designed for the large-scale generation of electric power (Turchi, Stekli, & Bueno, 2017). When considering integrating supercritical CO2 (sCO2) with CSP, it is worth noting the following. CSPs have unique attributes, which might provide challenges and opportunities when integrating with the sCO2 power cycle. For instance, CSP plants are easy to design for distinctive maximum operating temperatures. However, when targeting a CSP plant operating temperature, thermal and optical loss considerations ought to be considered.
CSP plants should integrate thermal energy storage (TES) with a power block. In addition, they ought to be designed in a way that they can accommodate seasonal and diurnal solar cycles. Since CSP plants are located in areas with very high temperatures, it is a requirement to have dry cooling because they operate at high ambient temperatures (Turchi, Stekli, & Bueno, 2017). The overall CSP plant efficiency is the product of the thermo-electric power cycle and the solar collection efficiencies. Although the peak efficiency of CSP plants is achieved at 800o Celsius, temperatures above 700o Celsius have diminishing benefits (Turchi, Stekli, & Bueno, 2017). CSP and sCO2 require two thermal media, including the thermal storage material and the receiver, such as the heat transfer fluid (HTF).
CSP systems can be integrated with sCO2 by replacing the steam-Rankine power cycle with sCO2. Such integration can use solar salt. ...