Impact of Hybrid Wet/Dry Cooling on Concentrating Solar Power Plant Performance
This paper examines the sensitivity of Rankine cycle plant performance to dry cooling and hybrid (parallel) wet/dry cooling combinations with the traditional wet-cooled model as a baseline. Plants with a lower temperature thermal resource are more sensitive to fluctuations in cooling conditions, and so the lower temperature parabolic trough plant is analyzed to assess the maximum impact of alternative cooling configurations. While low water-use heat rejection designs are applicable to any technology that utilizes a Rankine steam cycle for power generation, they are of special interest to concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies that are located in arid regions with limited water availability. System performance is evaluated using hourly simulations over the course of a year at Daggett, CA. The scope of the analysis in this paper is limited to the power block and the heat rejection system, excluding the solar field and thermal storage. As such, water used in mirror washing, maintenance, etc., is not included. Thermal energy produced by the solar field is modeled using NREL's Solar Advisor Model (SAM).
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1049611
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/CP-5500-55526
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Water Use in Parabolic Trough Power Plants: Summary Results from WorleyParsons' Analyses
Nexant Parabolic Trough Solar Power Plant Systems Analysis; Task 2: Comparison of Wet and Dry Rankine Cycle Heat Rejection, 20 January 2005 - 31 December 2005
Parabolic Trough Reference Plant for Cost Modeling with the Solar Advisor Model (SAM)
Technical Report
·
Tue Nov 30 23:00:00 EST 2010
·
OSTI ID:1001357
Nexant Parabolic Trough Solar Power Plant Systems Analysis; Task 2: Comparison of Wet and Dry Rankine Cycle Heat Rejection, 20 January 2005 - 31 December 2005
Technical Report
·
Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2006
·
OSTI ID:887344
Parabolic Trough Reference Plant for Cost Modeling with the Solar Advisor Model (SAM)
Technical Report
·
Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2010
·
OSTI ID:983729