Techno–Economic Analysis of the Optimum Configuration for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Cycles in Concentrating Solar Power Systems
There is a general agreement among researchers that supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO<sub>2</sub>) cycles will be part of the next generation of thermal power plants, especially in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. While certain studies focus on maximizing the efficiency of these c...
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| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Entropy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/26/2/124 |
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| author | Rosa P. Merchán Luis F. González-Portillo Javier Muñoz-Antón |
| author_facet | Rosa P. Merchán Luis F. González-Portillo Javier Muñoz-Antón |
| author_sort | Rosa P. Merchán |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | There is a general agreement among researchers that supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO<sub>2</sub>) cycles will be part of the next generation of thermal power plants, especially in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. While certain studies focus on maximizing the efficiency of these cycles in the hope of achieving a reduction in electricity costs, it is important to note that this assumption does not always hold true. This work provides a comprehensive analysis of the differences between minimizing the cost and maximizing the efficiency for the most remarkable sCO<sub>2</sub> cycles. The analysis considers the most important physical uncertainties surrounding CSP and sCO<sub>2</sub> cycles, such as turbine inlet temperature, ambient temperature, pressure drop and turbomachinery efficiency. Moreover, the uncertainties related to cost are also analyzed, being divided into uncertainties of sCO<sub>2</sub> component costs and uncertainties of heating costs. The CSP system with partial cooling (sometimes with reheating and sometimes without it) is the cheapest configuration in the analyzed cases. However, the differences in cost are generally below 5% (and sometimes neglectable), while the differences in efficiency are significantly larger and below 15%. Besides the much lower efficiency of systems with simple cycle, if the heating cost is low enough, their cost could be even lower than the cost of the system with partial cooling. Systems with recompression cycles could also achieve costs below systems with partial cooling if the design’s ambient temperature and the pressure drop are low. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:34:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f57620b7635b49b292ed283a2251d03d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1099-4300 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:34:06Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Entropy |
| spelling | doaj.art-f57620b7635b49b292ed283a2251d03d2024-02-23T15:15:39ZengMDPI AGEntropy1099-43002024-01-0126212410.3390/e26020124Techno–Economic Analysis of the Optimum Configuration for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Cycles in Concentrating Solar Power SystemsRosa P. Merchán0Luis F. González-Portillo1Javier Muñoz-Antón2Department of Applied Physics and IUFFYM, University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, SpainDepartamento de Ingeniería Energética, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, SpainDepartamento de Ingeniería Energética, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, SpainThere is a general agreement among researchers that supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO<sub>2</sub>) cycles will be part of the next generation of thermal power plants, especially in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. While certain studies focus on maximizing the efficiency of these cycles in the hope of achieving a reduction in electricity costs, it is important to note that this assumption does not always hold true. This work provides a comprehensive analysis of the differences between minimizing the cost and maximizing the efficiency for the most remarkable sCO<sub>2</sub> cycles. The analysis considers the most important physical uncertainties surrounding CSP and sCO<sub>2</sub> cycles, such as turbine inlet temperature, ambient temperature, pressure drop and turbomachinery efficiency. Moreover, the uncertainties related to cost are also analyzed, being divided into uncertainties of sCO<sub>2</sub> component costs and uncertainties of heating costs. The CSP system with partial cooling (sometimes with reheating and sometimes without it) is the cheapest configuration in the analyzed cases. However, the differences in cost are generally below 5% (and sometimes neglectable), while the differences in efficiency are significantly larger and below 15%. Besides the much lower efficiency of systems with simple cycle, if the heating cost is low enough, their cost could be even lower than the cost of the system with partial cooling. Systems with recompression cycles could also achieve costs below systems with partial cooling if the design’s ambient temperature and the pressure drop are low.https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/26/2/124concentrating solar powersupercritical CO<sub>2</sub>optimum configurationtechno–economic assessmentoptimization |
| spellingShingle | Rosa P. Merchán Luis F. González-Portillo Javier Muñoz-Antón Techno–Economic Analysis of the Optimum Configuration for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Cycles in Concentrating Solar Power Systems Entropy concentrating solar power supercritical CO<sub>2</sub> optimum configuration techno–economic assessment optimization |
| title | Techno–Economic Analysis of the Optimum Configuration for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Cycles in Concentrating Solar Power Systems |
| title_full | Techno–Economic Analysis of the Optimum Configuration for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Cycles in Concentrating Solar Power Systems |
| title_fullStr | Techno–Economic Analysis of the Optimum Configuration for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Cycles in Concentrating Solar Power Systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Techno–Economic Analysis of the Optimum Configuration for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Cycles in Concentrating Solar Power Systems |
| title_short | Techno–Economic Analysis of the Optimum Configuration for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Cycles in Concentrating Solar Power Systems |
| title_sort | techno economic analysis of the optimum configuration for supercritical carbon dioxide cycles in concentrating solar power systems |
| topic | concentrating solar power supercritical CO<sub>2</sub> optimum configuration techno–economic assessment optimization |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/26/2/124 |
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