The Economic Potential of Two Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid Energy Systems

Technical Report · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1285734· OSTI ID:1285734

Ruth, Mark ^[1]; Cutler, Dylan ^[1]; Flores-Espino, Francisco ^[1]; Stark, Greg ^[1]; Jenkin, Thomas ^[1]; Simpkins, Travis ^[1]; Macknick, Jordan ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Tightly coupled nuclear-renewable hybrid energy systems (N-R HESs) are an option that can generate zero-carbon, dispatchable electricity and provide zero-carbon energy for industrial processes at a lower cost than alternatives. N-R HESs are defined as systems that are managed by a single entity and link a nuclear reactor that generates heat, a thermal power cycle for heat to electricity conversion, at least one renewable energy source, and an industrial process that uses thermal and/or electrical energy. This report provides results of an analysis of two N-R HES scenarios. The first is a Texas-synthetic gasoline scenario that includes four subsystems: a nuclear reactor, thermal power cycle, wind power plant, and synthetic gasoline production technology. The second is an Arizona-desalination scenario with its four subsystems a nuclear reactor, thermal power cycle, solar photovoltaics, and a desalination plant. The analysis focuses on the economics of the N-R HESs and how they compare to other options, including configurations without all the subsystems in each N-R HES and alternatives where the energy is provided by natural gas.

• 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: 1285734
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP-6A50-66073
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
17 WIND ENERGY
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONFIGURATION
CONVERSION
COST
DESALINATION PLANTS
ECONOMICS
ELECTRIC POWER
ENERGY SYSTEMS
GASOLINE
HYBRID SYSTEMS
NATURAL GAS
PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANTS
POWER PRODUCTION
REACTORS
REopt
SYNTHETIC FUELS
WIND POWER PLANTS
clean power
desalination
economics
electricity
hybrid systems
natural gas
nuclear
renewable
solar photovoltaics
synthetic gasoline scneario
thermal power
wind power