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System-Level Comparison of Sodium and Salt Systems in Support of the Gen3 Liquids Pathway

Conference ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0087911· OSTI ID:1874010
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This paper presents the comparison of the annual performance and the Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE) of two high- temperature solar power tower configurations using a 565MWth chloride salt receiver and a 540 MWth liquid sodium receiver. Each power tower consists of a sodium or salt receiver, a 175 m high concrete tower, and a two-tank chloride salt system for thermal energy storage (TES). The power plants were simulated using SolarTherm to estimate their energy per year, capacity factor, and LCOE. The simulation was verified against the System Advisor Model (SAM), showing that the LCOE calculation differences are within ±1.0%. Results showed that the sodium-receiver system yields 69.60 USD/MWh real LCOE, versus 78.55 USD/MWh for the chloride salt system. Results also showed that sodium wins here due to a smaller and more efficient receiver, enabled by higher flux limits and reduced field size, leading to less mirror reflective area and site improvement cost.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1874010
Report Number(s):
NREL/CP-5700-83282; MainId:84055; UUID:9ef9d870-7390-48d7-9c34-53a39dab59dd; MainAdminID:64753
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (7)

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  • Scott, Paul; Alonso, Alberto de la Calle; Hinkley, James T.
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conference January 2017
Evaluation of external tubular configurations for a high-temperature chloride molten salt solar receiver operating above 700 °C journal July 2021
Supercritical carbon dioxide power cycle design and configuration optimization to minimize levelized cost of energy of molten salt power towers operating at 650 °C journal March 2019
Dakota, a multilevel parallel object-oriented framework for design optimization, parameter estimation, uncertainty quantification, and sensitivity analysis version 6.0 theory manual report May 2014
Computing the solar vector journal January 2001
A review of sodium receiver technologies for central receiver solar power plants journal December 2015
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Related Subjects

ENERGY STORAGE
SOLAR ENERGY
capacity factor
chemical elements
energy storage
solar power plants