Thermodynamic Model Development
System Overview
Thermodynamic Input Data
TABLE 3
TABLE 4
TABLE 4. Parameter values for economic evaluations.
Thermodynamic Performance Metrics
ηsys¯¯¯¯¯=ηsf¯¯¯¯⋅ηpt¯¯¯¯⋅ηpb¯¯¯¯⋅ηaux¯¯¯¯¯¯(2)
ηsf¯¯¯¯=∑ζi=1(Ei19)∑ζi=1(Ei18)(3)
ηpt¯¯¯¯=∑ζi=1(Ei12−Ei11)+EζHS+EζCS∑ζi=1(Ei19)+E1HS+E1CS(4)
ηpb¯¯¯¯=∑ζi=1(Ei27)∑ζi=1(Ei12−Ei11)(5)
ηaux¯¯¯¯¯¯=1−∑ζi=1(Ei28+Ei29)∑ζi=1(Ei27)(6)
CFsys=∑ζi=1(Ei27)ζ⋅Ppb(7)
Economic Model Development
Economic Input Data
Economic Performance Metrics
TABLE 5
TABLE 5. Scaling equations for equipment costs.
The total capital cost (Ctca) is a function of the cost of components (Ccom), the balance of plant (Cbp), the cost of controls (Ccontrol=Fcontrol⋅∑(Ccom)), owners’ cost (Cown), and contingency (Ccon)
Eq.
12. In this context, controls refer to the electronics needed to control and operate the entire plant.Ctca=∑(Ccom+Ccontrol+Cbp)⋅(1+Cown+Ccon)(12)
The LCOE in ¢/kWhe is calculated using
Eq.
13as a function of total annual cost of operation and maintenance (CO&M), Ctca, weighted average cost of capital (WACC), cost of material replacement per year (Crep = Frep⋅Cpa) estimated to be a fraction of the particle inventory replaced per year, and electrical production (Ep) in kWhe/year of the model accounting for parasitic losses.LCOE=CO&M+Ctca⋅WACC+Crep Ep(13)
Simulation Procedures
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2. High-level procedural summary for technoeconomic analyses.
Results
Component Sizes
TABLE 6
TABLE 6. Mass and energy flows, and temperatures at the design state for fluid streams (see
Figure 1Bfor stream numbers).
. Radiation, heat, and electricity flows at the design point (see
Figure 1B).
. Component sizing results.
Intraday Operational Behavior
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3. Intraday dispatch schedule using seasonally representative DNI data from tmy3. (A), winter (B), spring and fall, and (C) summer.
Annual Performance
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4. Annual average energy efficiency from incident solar to electricity applying tmy3 data.
System Sizing and Energy Cost
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5. Effect of storage capacity and solar multiple on (A) capacity factor, (B) system efficiency, (C) total capital cost, and (D) LCOE.
System efficiency slightly increases for all storage sizes as SM
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6. (A) Cost breakdown and LCOE for baseline system with 6 h of storage and SM = 1.8, and (B) lower LCOE case with 12 h of storage and SM = 2.4.
Sensitivity
Influence of Design Parameters
TABLE 9
TABLE 9. Effect of selected design and economic parameters on various performance metrics and LCOE. T2
= SR3 particle outlet temperature, AHX= contact surface area in the heat exchanger, γcav = ratio of SR3 cavity interior surface area to aperture area, γlr = SR3 ratio of cavity length to cavity radius, Favg = Average flux density of the receiver aperture, tSR3ins
= thickness of the SR3 insulation.
Influence of Cost Parameters
Weighted Average Cost of Capital
SR3 Multiplier
Contingency
Particle Multiplier
Setting Percent
Conclusion
Data Availability Statement
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflict of Interest
Publisher’s Note
Acknowledgments
Supplementary Material
References
