Process intensification of solar thermal power using hybridization, flexible heat integration, and real-time optimization

摘要

This work demonstrates process intensification of a solar thermal and natural gas hybrid power plant. Process intensification is achieved in three novel ways: 1- By synergistically designing the plant, the efficiency at which solar power is collected is dramatically improved. The plant uses a parabolic trough solar collector and combines it with natural gas for steam superheating and auxiliary power. 2- This work introduces the concept of Flexible Heat Integration (FHI) for solar thermal power plants. By designing the plant with the ability to deliver heat at various temperatures and to various processes (high, medium, and low temperature), radiative heat losses in the solar field can be drastically reduced. 3- In order to leverage the operational flexibility designed into the system, a real-time optimization scheme is added to determine the temperature at which to collect heat and the location for the heat delivery. While each of these features is novel, FHI has not been explored in this context, making its exploration the major contribution in this work. After applying each of these process intensification measures, the total solar energy collected relative to a solar only plant increases by 89.1%. Other results including efficiency, solar fraction, and economics are also evaluated.