Techno-economic assessment of thermal energy storage solutions for a 1 MWe CSP-ORC power plant

Abstract Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) have principally been used in the past couple of decades to recover medium grade heat from sources such as geothermal, biomass and the exhaust of a realm of different industrial processes (waste heat recovery). In the past few years, this power generation technology has also been proposed in concentrating solar thermal power applications, aiming to exploit its features in intermediate temperature systems (low water consumption, water-free operation, scalability). These inherent features are best exploited if coupled with thermal energy storage systems to enable good performance in spite of the intermittent energy supply and also to increase the average load factor. To achieve these objectives though, a proper storage system tailored to the heat profile captured by the solar collector and to the characteristics of the power cycle must be identified. This paper discusses the cited design criteria and presents an analysis aimed at identifying the potential storage solutions to be implemented into a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant for electricity generation operating at temperatures between (170 °C) and (300 °C). The system so developed will be integrated in the 1 MWe CSP-ORC facility based on Fresnel technology that is currently under construction at Iresen’s premises in Benguerir, Morocco. Detailed transient models of performance of two-tank and thermocline storage systems are presented. The annual simulations carried out reveal that thermocline solutions are globally more attractive, since they exhibit similar thermal performance but at a much lower (30% lower) cost.

[1]  T. V. Backström,et al.  Packed bed pressure drop dependence on particle shape, size distribution, packing arrangement and roughness , 2013 .

[2]  Simone Penati,et al.  The First Geothermal Organic Radial Outflow Turbines , 2015 .

[3]  Carlos D. Perez-Segarra,et al.  Thermocline thermal storage systems for concentrated solar power plants: One-dimensional numerical model and comparative analysis , 2014 .

[4]  Suresh V. Garimella,et al.  Thermal analysis of solar thermal energy storage in a molten-salt thermocline , 2010 .

[5]  T.E.W. Schumann,et al.  Heat transfer: A liquid flowing through a porous prism , 1929 .

[6]  F. Kreith,et al.  Principles of heat transfer , 1962 .

[7]  G. Cau,et al.  ScienceDirect 68 th Conference of the Italian Thermal Machines Engineering Association , ATI 2013 Numerical investigation of a packed bed thermal energy storage system with different heat transfer fluids , 2014 .

[8]  M. Valdés,et al.  Solar multiple optimization for a solar-only thermal power plant, using oil as heat transfer fluid in the parabolic trough collectors , 2009 .

[9]  W. R. Gambill.  World energy perspective , 1986 .

[10]  José María Martínez-Val Peñalosa,et al.  Solar multiple optimization for a solar-only thermal power plant, using oil as heat transfer fluid in the parabolic trough collectors , 2009 .

[11]  B. Kelly,et al.  Advanced Thermal Storage for Central Receivers with Supercritical Coolants , 2010 .

[12]  Daniele Cocco,et al.  Comparison of Medium-size Concentrating Solar Power Plants based on Parabolic Trough and Linear Fresnel Collectors , 2014 .

[13]  R. Bayón,et al.  Simulation and assessment of operation strategies for solar thermal power plants with a thermocline storage tank , 2014 .

[14]  J. Pacheco,et al.  DEVELOPMENT OF A MOLTEN-SALT THERMOCLINE THERMAL STORAGE SYSTEM FOR PARABOLIC TROUGH PLANTS , 2001 .

[15]  R. Banerjee,et al.  Analysis of high temperature thermal energy storage for solar power plant , 2012, 2012 IEEE Third International Conference on Sustainable Energy Technologies (ICSET).

[16]  Piero Colonna,et al.  Thermal energy storage for solar-powered organic Rankine cycle engines , 2013 .

[17]  E. N. Sieder,et al.  Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Liquids in Tubes , 1936 .

[18]  Vittorio Ferraro,et al.  On the performance of CSP oil-cooled plants, with and without heat storage in tanks of molten salts , 2015 .

[19]  Klaus D. Timmerhaus,et al.  Plant design and economics for chemical engineers , 1958 .

[20]  A. Zukauskas.  Heat Transfer from Tubes in Crossflow , 1972 .

[21]  J. Chato,et al.  Condensation in Smooth Horizontal Tubes , 1998 .

[22]  Andy Skumanich.  CSP at a crossroads , 2011 .

[23]  Daniele Cocco,et al.  Performance comparison of two-tank direct and thermocline thermal energy storage systems for 1 MWe class concentrating solar power plants , 2015 .

[24]  Gregory J. Kolb,et al.  Performance Analysis of Thermocline Energy Storage Proposed for the 1 MW Saguaro Solar Trough Plant , 2006 .

[25]  Ömer Akgiray,et al.  A revisit of pressure drop-flow rate correlations for packed beds of spheres , 2015 .

[26]  E. Gonzo.  Estimating correlations for the effective thermal conductivity of granular materials , 2002 .

[27]  William M. Vatavuk,et al.  Updating the CE Plant Cost Index , 2002 .

[28]  Suresh V. Garimella,et al.  Numerical Simulation of Single- and Dual-Media Thermocline Tanks for Energy Storage in Concentrating Solar Power Plants , 2014 .

[29]  S. Relloso,et al.  Tower Technology Cost Reduction Approach after Gemasolar Experience , 2015 .

[30]  Ulli Drescher,et al.  Fluid selection for the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) in biomass power and heat plants , 2007 .

[31]  K. Vafai,et al.  Analysis of Variants Within the Porous Media Transport Models , 2000 .

[32]  A. Koekemoer,et al.  Effect of material type and particle size distribution on pressure drop in packed beds of large particles: Extending the Ergun equation , 2015 .

[33]  Fritz Zaversky,et al.  Transient molten salt two-tank thermal storage modeling for CSP performance simulations , 2013 .

[34]  Ashmore Mawire,et al.  Experimental and simulated temperature distribution of an oil-pebble bed thermal energy storage system with a variable heat source , 2009 .

[35]  Jan Schulte-Fischedick,et al.  CFD Analysis of the Cool Down Behaviour of Molten Salt Thermal Storage Systems , 2008 .

[36]  Jon T. Van Lew,et al.  Analysis of Heat Storage and Delivery of a Thermocline Tank Having Solid Filler Material , 2011 .

[37]  Flavio Manenti,et al.  Dynamic simulation of concentrating solar power plant and two-tanks direct thermal energy storage☆ , 2013 .

[38]  Esther Rojas,et al.  Analytical function describing the behaviour of a thermocline storage tank: A requirement for annual simulations of solar thermal power plants , 2014 .