Economic and Performance Comparisons of Salty and Saltless Solar Ponds

摘要

The optimum solar pond design is site-dependent and application-dependent. Foremost of the design decisions is the choice of a salty (nonconvecting) pond or a saltless (convecting) pond. The decision variables are: local availability and cost of salt, type of salt available and its properties, and possible environmental factors such as the effects of salt run-off and the existence of ground water. The availability of salt is an important factor in determining the economics of salty ponds. For example, sodium sulfate is a potentially low-cost substitute for sodium chloride, and is expected to be in plentiful and widely distributed supply in the near future as a waste product of flue gas desulfurization at coal-fired utility plants. This paper discusses the potential supply of such salts and estimates the break-point in net cost of salt at which a convecting pond becomes economically competitive with the salty pond. (ERA citation 04:042746)