Economic and Performance Comparisons of Salty and Saltless Solar Ponds
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
The optimum solar pond design is site-dependent and application-dependent. Foremost of the design decisions is the choice of a salty (nonconvecting) pond or a saltless (convecting) pond. The decision variables are: local availability and cost of salt, type of salt available and its properties, and possible environmental factors such as the effects of salt runoff and the existence of ground water. The availability of s a l t is an important factor in determining the economics of salty ponds. For ex-- ample, sodium sulfate is a potentially low-cost substitute for sodium chloride, and is expected to be in plentiful and widely distributed supply in the near future as a waste product of flue gas desulfurization a t coal-fired utility plants. This paper discusses the potential supply of such salts and estimates the break-point in net cost of salt at which a convecting pond becomes economically competitive with the salty pond.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1467381
- Report Number(s):
- SERI/TP-35-213
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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