Comparative Analysis of Designing Solar and Geothermal Power Plants: A Case Study

Roberto Venegas, Sarada Kuravi, Krishna Kota, Mary McCay

Abstract


Geothermal and solar thermal are renewable, clean energy sources with immense potential for electricity generation. Concentrating Solar Power can achieve very high temperatures and high efficiencies compared to geothermal power plants. However, it is intermittent and must be coupled with thermal storage or another source for continuous power generation. Geothermal resources exist in varying temperatures but are too small for economic power production; however, it is not intermittent. This paper briefly summarizes the location-specific design considerations for geothermal and solar thermal plants. The performance of both these types of power plants is analysed in terms of capacity factor, thermal energy storage hours, solar multiple, area requirement, and levelized cost of energy for a given set of environmental conditions at two separate locations, Las Cruces, US and Aydin, Turkey. Electricity consumption for an example airport at Aydin is provided by DHMI Airport authority administration, which was used as load profile for Aydin. This analysis is performed using the System Advisor Model. Simulation of parabolic trough, power tower, linear Fresnel, dish Stirling, and geothermal energy conversion systems are performed and the results are compared.

Keywords


Concentrating solar power, Geothermal power generation, System Advisor Model, economic analysis, case study

Full Text:

PDF

References


REN21, Renewables 2014 Global Status Report. Paris, France: REN21 Secretariat, 2014, ISBN 978-3-9815934-2-6.

S. Esterly and R. Gelman, 2013 Renewable Energy Data Book. NREL, Dec. 2014.

B. Matek, 2014 Annual U.S. & Global Geothermal Power Production Report. April 2014.

T. Yuan, and C. Y. Zhao, "A review of solar collectors and thermal energy storage in solar thermal applications," Appl. Energy, vol. 104, pp. 538-553, 2013.

S. Kuravi, J. Trahan, D. Y. Goswami, M. M. Rahman, and E. K. Stefanakos, “Thermal energy storage technologies and systems for concentrating solar power plants,†Progress in Energy and Combustion Sci., vol. 39, pp. 285-319, 2013.

K. Arun, and S. K. Shukla, "A review on thermal energy storage unit for solar thermal power plant application," Energy Procedia, vol. 74, pp. 462-469, 2015.

S. Kuravi, Y. Goswami, E. Stefanakos, M. Ram, C. Jotshi, S. Pendyala, J. Trahan, P. Sridharan, M. Rahman, and B. Krakow, “Thermal Energy Storage for Concentrating Solar Power Plantsâ€, Technology and Innovation, J. of the Nat. Academy of Inventors, vol.14, no. 2, 2012.

S. Kuravi, J. Trahan, Y. Goswami, C. Jotshi, E. Stefanakos, and N. Goel, “Investigation of a High Temperature Packed Bed Sensible Heat Thermal Energy Storage System with Large Sized Elementsâ€, J. of Sol. Energy Eng., vol. 135, no.4, pp: 041008, 2013.

Q., Sylvain, et al., "Techno-economic survey of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) systems." Renew. and Sustain. Energy Reviews, vol. 22, pp. 168-186, 2013.

R. Vidhi, S. Kuravi, Y. Goswami, E. Stefanakos, and A. Sabau, “Organic Fluids in a Supercritical Rankine Cycle for Low Temperature Power Generationâ€, Journal of Energy Resources and Technology, vol. 135, no. 4, pp: 042002, 2013.

F. Vélez, F. Chejne, and A. Quijano. "Thermodynamic analysis of R134a in an Organic Rankine Cycle for power generation from low temperature sources", Dyna, vol. 81, no. 185, pp. 153-159, 2014.

R. Vidhi, S. Kuravi, S. Besarati, E. Stefanakos, and Y. Goswami, “Performance of Working Fluids for Power Generation in a Supercritical Organic Rankine Cycleâ€, in Proc. of the ASME 2012 6th Int. Conf. of Energy Sustain., San Diego, CA, July 23-26, 2012, paper no. ESFuelCell2012-91473.

G. Morin, J. Dersch, W. Platzer, M. Eck, and A. Häberle, “Comparison of Linear Fresnel and Parabolic Trough Collector power plantsâ€, Sol. Energy, vol. 86, pp. 1-12, 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2011.06.020.

A. Giostri, M. Binotti, P. Silva, E. Macchi, and G. Manzolini, “Comparison of Two Linear Collectors in Solar Thermal Plants: Parabolic Trough Versus Fresnel, J.â€, Sol. Energy Eng., vol. 135, 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/1.4006792, 011001.

M. Wirz, M. Roesle, and A. Steinfeld, “Design Point for Predicting Year-Round Performance of Solar Parabolic Trough Concentrator Systemsâ€, J. Sol. Energy Eng., vol. 136, 2013, http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/1.4025709, 021019.

V. Quaschning, R. Kistner, and W. Ortmanns, “Influence of Direct Normal Irradiance Variation on the Optimal Parabolic Trough Field Size: A Problem Solved with Technical and Economical Simulations", J. Sol. Energy Eng., vol. 124, no. 160, 2002, http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/1.1465432.

M.J. Montes, A. Abanades, J.M. Martínez-Val, and M. Vald es, “Solar multiple opti- mization for a solar-only thermal power plant, using oil as heat transfer fluid in the parabolic trough collectorsâ€, Sol. Energy, vol. 83, pp. 2165-2176, 2009, http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2009.08.010.

M.J. Montes, A. Ab anades, and J.M. Martínez-Val, “Performance of a direct steam generation solar thermal power plant for electricity production as a function of the solar multiple,†Sol. Energy, vol. 83, pp. 679-689, 2009, http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.solener.2008.10.015.

S. Izquierdo, C. Montañes, C. Dopazo, and N. Fueyo, “Analysis of CSP plants for the definition of energy policies: The influence on electricity cost of solar multiples, capacity factors and energy storage,†Energy Policy, vol. 38, pp. 6215-6221, 2010, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.06.009.

N.B. Desai, S.B. Kedare, and S. Bandyopadhyay, “Optimization of design radiation for concentrating solar thermal power plants without storageâ€, Sol. Energy, vol. 107, pp. 98-112, 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2014.05.046.

K.S. Reddy, K.R. Kumar, and V.A. Devraj, “Feasibility analysis of megawatt scale solar thermal power plants,†J. Renew. Sustain. Energy, vol. 4, 2012, http:// dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4766891, 063111.

S. Sundaray, T.C. Kandpal, “Preliminary feasibility evaluation of solar thermal power generation in India,†Int. J. Sustain. Energy, vol. 33, pp. 461-469, 2014, http:// dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786451.2013.770395.

C. Sharma, et al., "A study of the effect of design parameters on the performance of linear solar concentrator based thermal power plants in India." Renew. Energy, vol. 87 pp. 666-675, 2016.

A. D. Greenhut, et al., "Solar–geothermal hybrid cycle analysis for low enthalpy solar and geothermal resources," in Proc. World Geothermal Congr., 2010.

A. Coskun, A. Bolatturk, and M. Kanoglu. "Thermodynamic and economic analysis and optimization of power cycles for a medium temperature geothermal resource," Energy Conversion and Manage., vol. 78, pp. 39-49, 2014.

A., Marco, et al., "Technical and economical analysis of a solar–geothermal hybrid plant based on an Organic Rankine Cycle," Geothermics, vol. 40.1, pp. 58-68, 2011.

R. Venegas, S. Kuravi, K. Kota, T. Nguyen, and M. McCay, “Review of Geothermal and Solar Thermal Power Plants and a Comparative Design Analysis,†in ASME 2015 Power Conf., San Diego, CA, 2015, doi:10.1115/POWER2015-49526.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2014) SAM, System Advisor Model (version 9.20) [Online]. Available: https://sam.nrel.gov/content/downloads.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2014, Dec. 2). Dynamic maps, GIS data, & analysis tools, Geothermal [Online].

H. Yousefi, and S. Ehara, “Geothermal power plant site selection using gis in sabalan area, NW Iran,†Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Moto-oka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan, 819-0395, 2007.

G. Blewitt, M. F. Coolbaugh, D. L. Sawatzky, W. Holt, J. L. Davis, and R. A. Bennett, “Targeting of potential geothermal resources in the Great Basin from regional to basin-scale relationships between geodetic strain and geological structures,†Int. Collaboration for Geothermal Energy in the Americas - Geothermal Resources Council Annual Meeting, vol. 27, pp. 3-7, 2003.

U.S. Department of Energy. (2014, Sept. 5). Solar Multimedia [Online] Available: https://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/solar-multimedia-1.

National Renewable Energy Laboraory. (2014, Dec. 2) Dynamic maps, GIS data, & analysis tools [Online] Available: http://www.nrel.gov/gis/.

C.S. Turchi, M.J. Wagner, and C.F. Kutscher, “Water Use in Parabolic Trough Power Plants: Summary Results from WorleyParsons' Analyse,†NREL, Tech. Rep., 2010.

USDOE, “Concentrating Solar Power Commercial Application Study: Reducing Water Consumption of Concentrating Solar Power Electricity Generation,†Report to Congress, US Department of Energy, 2001.

Y. Azoumah, E.W. Ramdé, G. Tapsoba, and S. Thiam, “Siting guidelines for concentrating solar power plants in the Sahel: Case study of Burkina Faso,†Sol. Energy, vol. 84, no. 8, pp. 1545-1553, Aug. 2010.

H. M. S. Freng, and F. Trieb, “Concentrating solar power a review of the technology,†Quarterly of the Royal Academy of Eng. Ingenia, vol. 18, pp. 43-50, 2004.

M. Kirby, D. Dahle, D. Heimiller, and B. Owens, “Assessing the Potential for Renewable Energy on Public Lands,†US Dept. of the Interior and US Dept. of Energy, Rep. DOE/GO-102003-1704, Feb. 2003.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, “System Advisor Model (Version 2014.11.24) User Documentation. Geothermal, Resource Characterization, Plant Configuration, Power Block,†Golden, CO, 2014.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, “System Advisor Model (Version 2014.11.24) User Documentation. Parabolic Trough, Power Tower, Linear Fresnel, Dish Stirling, Solar Multiple, Thermal Storage, Levelized Cost of Energy,†Golden, CO., 2014.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, “System Advisor Model (Version 2014.1.14) (SAM 2014.1.14) User Documentation. Weather File Folders,†Golden, CO, 2014.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory. (2014, Jan. 14) Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) [Online]. Available: https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/sam/help/html-php/index.html?mtf_lcoe.htm

3TIER, “FullView Solar, Site Climate Variability analysis, ANALYSIS OF 15-YEAR RECORD Cildir Airport, Turkey, For FIT,†3TIER, Seattle, WA, 2014.

E.D.K. Basel, U. Serpen, and A. Satman, “Turkey’s Geothermal Energy Potential: Updated Results,†Proc. 35th Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Eng., Stanford University, Stanford, CA, SGP-TR-188, 2010.




DOI (PDF): https://doi.org/10.20508/ijrer.v8i1.6681.g7337

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Online ISSN: 1309-0127

Publisher: Gazi University

IJRER is cited in SCOPUS, EBSCO, WEB of SCIENCE (Clarivate Analytics);

IJRER has been cited in Emerging Sources Citation Index from 2016 in web of science.

WEB of SCIENCE in 2025; 

h=35,

Average citation per item=6.59

Last three Years Impact Factor=(1947+1753+1586)/(146+201+78)=5286/425=12.43

Category Quartile:Q4