Solar Ponds
This report first describes the different types of solar ponds including the nonconvecting salt gradient pond and various saltless pond designs. It then discusses the availability and cost of salts for salt gradient ponds, and compares the economics of salty and saltless ponds as a function of salt cost. A simple computational model is developed to approximate solar pond performance. This model is later used to size solar ponds for district heating and industrial process heat applications. For district heating, ponds are sized to provide space conditioning for a group of homes, in different regions of the United States. Size requirements is on the order of one acre for a group of 25 to 50 homes. An economic analysis is performed of solar ponds used in two industrial process heat applications. The analysis finds that solar ponds are competitive when conventional heat sources are priced at $5 per million Btu and expected to rise in price at a rate of 10% per year. The application of solar ponds to the generation of electricity is also discussed. Total solar pond potential for displacing conventional energy sources is estimated in the range of from one to six quadrillion Btu per year in the near and intermediate future.
- 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:
- 5263624
- Report Number(s):
- SERI/TR-731-587; MainId:66918; UUID:28da226f-bfd1-e411-b769-d89d67132a6d; MainAdminID:48989
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Economic and Performance Comparisons of Salty and Saltless Solar Ponds
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Related Subjects
SOLAR PONDS
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
DESIGN
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
POWER GENERATION
POWER POTENTIAL
SALINITY GRADIENTS
SIZE
SOLAR DISTRICT HEATING
SOLAR PROCESS HEAT
DISTRICT HEATING
ECONOMICS
ENERGY
EQUIPMENT
HEAT
HEATING
PONDS
PROCESS HEAT
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR HEATING
142000* - Solar Energy- Heat Storage- (1980-)
141000 - Solar Collectors & Concentrators