Comparison of Two-Tank Indirect Thermal Storage Designs for Solar Parabolic Trough Power Plants

Authors

Joseph E. Kopp, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Robert F. Boehm, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

7-19-2009

Publication Title

Proceedings of the ASME 3rd International Conference on Energy Sustainability 2009

Publisher

ASME

Volume

2

First page number:

683

Last page number:

688

Abstract

The performance of a solar thermal parabolic trough plant with thermal storage is dependent upon the arrangement of the heat exchangers that ultimately transfer energy from the sun into steam. An indirect two-tank molten salt storage system that only transfers heat with the solar field heat transfer fluid is the most commercially acceptable thermal storage design. Annual electricity generation from two differing indirect two-tank molten salt storage designs and a base case with no thermal storage were modeled. Four components were characterized in a quasi-steady state analysis dependent upon key ambient and operational parameters: solar field, storage, heat exchangers, and power block. The parameters for the collector field remained constant for all models and were based on the SEGS VI plant. The results of net power generation favor storage though the design that maximizes annual output depends on whether maximum power generation or power generation during the evening peak demand hours is desired. Additionally, the economic trade offs are discussed for the three arrangements.

Keywords

Heat – Transmission; Liquid sodium; Parabolic troughs; Solar collectors; Solar power plants; Storage batteries

Disciplines

Energy Systems | Heat Transfer, Combustion | Mechanical Engineering | Oil, Gas, and Energy | Power and Energy | Sustainability | Thermodynamics

Language

English

Comments

Conference held: San Francisco, California, USA, July 19–23, 2009

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

Kopp, J. E., Boehm, R. F. (2009). Comparison of Two-Tank Indirect Thermal Storage Designs for Solar Parabolic Trough Power Plants. Proceedings of the ASME 3rd International Conference on Energy Sustainability 2009, 2 683-688. ASME.