LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS: ECONOMICS, GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL, AND WATER FOR DISTRIBUTED CONCENTRATING SOLAR COMBINED HEAT AND POWER

摘要

We report on life-cycle assessment (LCA) of economics, global warming potential, and water (both for desalination and water-use in operation) for a Distributed Concentrating Solar Combined Heat and Power (DCS-CHP) system. We forecast a levelized cost of $0.25/kWh electricity and $0.03/kWh thermal, for a system with a life-cycle global warming potential of ～80 gCO2eq/kWh of electricity and -10 gCO2eq/kWh thermal. Based on the economics shown for air-cooling, and the fact that any combined heat and power system reduces the need for cooling while at the same time boosting the overall solar efficiency of the system, DCS-CHP compares favorably to other electric power generation systems in terms of minimization of water use in the maintenance and operation of the plant. The outlook for water desalination coupled with distributed concentrating solar combined heat and power is less favorable. At a projected cost of $ 1.40/m~3, water desalination with DCS-CHP would be economical and practical only in areas where water is very scarce or moderately expensive, primarily available through the informal sector, and where contaminated, or salt water is easily available as feed-water. It is also interesting to note that $0.40-$1.90/m~3 is the range of water prices in the developed world, so DCS-CHP desalination systems could also be an economical solution there under some conditions.