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Title: Gas Turbine/Solar Parabolic Trough Hybrid Design Using Molten Salt Heat Transfer Fluid: Preprint

Conference ·
OSTI ID:1024520

Parabolic trough power plants can provide reliable power by incorporating either thermal energy storage (TES) or backup heat from fossil fuels. This paper describes a gas turbine / parabolic trough hybrid design that combines a solar contribution greater than 50% with gas heat rates that rival those of natural gas combined-cycle plants. Previous work illustrated benefits of integrating gasturbines with conventional oil heat-transfer-fluid (HTF) troughs running at 390?C. This work extends that analysis to examine the integration of gas turbines with salt-HTF troughs running at 450 degrees C and including TES. Using gas turbine waste heat to supplement the TES system provides greater operating flexibility while enhancing the efficiency of gas utilization. The analysis indicatesthat the hybrid plant design produces solar-derived electricity and gas-derived electricity at lower cost than either system operating alone.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1024520
Report Number(s):
NREL/CP-5500-52424; TRN: US201119%%438
Resource Relation:
Conference: Presented at SolarPACES 2011, 20-23 September 2011, Granada, Spain
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English