A Cost-Performance Analysis of a Sodium Heat Engine for Distributed Concentrating Solar Power
Abstract
We present that a sodium thermal electrochemical converter (Na-TEC) generates electricity directly from heat through isothermal expansion of sodium ions across a beta"-alumina solid-electrolyte. This heat engine has been considered for use with conventional concentrating solar power (CSP) systems before. However, unlike previous single-stage devices, the improved design uses two stages with an interstage reheat, allowing more economical and efficient conversion up to 29% at a hot side temperature of 850 °C. Herein, a cost-performance analysis for this improved design assesses opportunities for distributed-CSP in the context of micro-combined heat and power systems. A high-level techno-economic analysis (TEA) is presented that explores four scenarios where a Na-TEC is used as the heat engine for a distributed-CSP system. Overnight capital cost and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) are estimated for a system lifetime of 30 years, revealing that overnight capital costs in a range from $3.57 to $17.71 per We are feasible, which equate to LCOEs from 6.9 to 17.2 cents kWhe-1. This analysis makes a significant contribution by concurrently quantifying the efficiency and unit costs for a range of multistage configurations, and demonstrating that a Na-TEC may be a promising alternative to Stirling engines for distributed-CSP systems at residential scalemore »
- Authors:
-
- Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1608463
- Grant/Contract Number:
- EE0007110; DGE‐1650044
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Sustainable Systems
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 4; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2366-7486
- Publisher:
- Wiley
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION; 42 ENGINEERING; thermally regenerative electrochemical system (TRES); alkali-metal thermal electric converter (AMTEC); beta"-alumina solid-electrolyte (BASE); thermo- electro-chemical conversion; combined heat and power; concentrating solar power; water; thermodynamic power cycles; cogeneration; Rankine cycle; Brayton cycle; thermal desalination; CSP; cost
Citation Formats
Gunawan, Andrey, Singh, Abhishek K., Simmons, Richard A., Haynes, Megan W., Limia, Alexander, Ha, Jong Min, Kottke, Peter A., Fedorov, Andrei G., Lee, Seung Woo, and Yee, Shannon K. A Cost-Performance Analysis of a Sodium Heat Engine for Distributed Concentrating Solar Power. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1002/adsu.201900104.
Gunawan, Andrey, Singh, Abhishek K., Simmons, Richard A., Haynes, Megan W., Limia, Alexander, Ha, Jong Min, Kottke, Peter A., Fedorov, Andrei G., Lee, Seung Woo, & Yee, Shannon K. A Cost-Performance Analysis of a Sodium Heat Engine for Distributed Concentrating Solar Power. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/adsu.201900104
Gunawan, Andrey, Singh, Abhishek K., Simmons, Richard A., Haynes, Megan W., Limia, Alexander, Ha, Jong Min, Kottke, Peter A., Fedorov, Andrei G., Lee, Seung Woo, and Yee, Shannon K. 2020.
"A Cost-Performance Analysis of a Sodium Heat Engine for Distributed Concentrating Solar Power". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/adsu.201900104. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1608463.
@article{osti_1608463,
title = {A Cost-Performance Analysis of a Sodium Heat Engine for Distributed Concentrating Solar Power},
author = {Gunawan, Andrey and Singh, Abhishek K. and Simmons, Richard A. and Haynes, Megan W. and Limia, Alexander and Ha, Jong Min and Kottke, Peter A. and Fedorov, Andrei G. and Lee, Seung Woo and Yee, Shannon K.},
abstractNote = {We present that a sodium thermal electrochemical converter (Na-TEC) generates electricity directly from heat through isothermal expansion of sodium ions across a beta"-alumina solid-electrolyte. This heat engine has been considered for use with conventional concentrating solar power (CSP) systems before. However, unlike previous single-stage devices, the improved design uses two stages with an interstage reheat, allowing more economical and efficient conversion up to 29% at a hot side temperature of 850 °C. Herein, a cost-performance analysis for this improved design assesses opportunities for distributed-CSP in the context of micro-combined heat and power systems. A high-level techno-economic analysis (TEA) is presented that explores four scenarios where a Na-TEC is used as the heat engine for a distributed-CSP system. Overnight capital cost and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) are estimated for a system lifetime of 30 years, revealing that overnight capital costs in a range from $3.57 to $17.71 per We are feasible, which equate to LCOEs from 6.9 to 17.2 cents kWhe-1. This analysis makes a significant contribution by concurrently quantifying the efficiency and unit costs for a range of multistage configurations, and demonstrating that a Na-TEC may be a promising alternative to Stirling engines for distributed-CSP systems at residential scale of 1–5 kWe.},
doi = {10.1002/adsu.201900104},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1608463},
journal = {Advanced Sustainable Systems},
issn = {2366-7486},
number = 6,
volume = 4,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Feb 19 00:00:00 EST 2020},
month = {Wed Feb 19 00:00:00 EST 2020}
}
Web of Science
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