A comparison of solar/gas industrial process heat and cogeneration systems

Solar systems integrated with conventional gas-fired systems offer the possibility of an attractive and economic process heat or cogeneration option. Candidate systems have been examined to assess possible technical barriers to the interfacing of these technologies. More importantly, a detailed economic evaluation was conducted to compare such systems with conventional gas-fired equipment and with a gas-only cogeneration system based on existing reciprocating engine or gas turbine technology. No significant technical barriers were found to interfacing large solar systems with a wide variety of gas-fired process heaters. The results show that solar/gas industrial process heat systems have marginal economics, whereas gas/solar cogeneration and particularly gas-fired cogeneration systems are economically attractive.