| Description |
1 online resource (8 p.) |
| Series |
NREL/CP ; 6A20-52186 |
|
Conference paper (National Renewable Energy Laboratory (U.S.)) ; 6 A 20-52186.
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| System Details |
Full text available via Internet in .pdf format. Adobe Acrobat Reader required. |
| Note |
Title from title screen (viewed Oct. 10, 2011). |
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"September 2011." |
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"To be presented at SolarPACES 2011, Granada, Spain, September 20 - 23, 2011." |
| Summary |
Climate change and water scarcity are important issues for today's power sector. To inform capacity expansion decisions, hybrid life cycle assessment is used to evaluate a reference design of a parabolic trough concentrating solar power (CSP) facility located in Daggett, California, along four sustainability metrics: life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water consumption, cumulative energy demand (CED), and energy payback time (EPBT). This wet-cooled, 103 MW plant utilizes mined nitrate salts in its two-tank, thermal energy storage (TES) system. Design alternatives of dry-cooling, a thermocline TES, and synthetically-derived nitrate salt are evaluated. During its life cycle, the reference CSP plant is estimated to emit 26 g CO2eq per kWh, consume 4.7 L/kWh of water, and demand 0.40 MJeq/kWh of energy, resulting in an EPBT of approximately 1 year. The dry-cooled alternative is estimated to reduce life cycle water consumption by 77% but increase life cycle GHG emissions and CED by 8%. Synthetic nitrate salts may increase life cycle GHG emissions by 52% compared to mined. Switching from two-tank to thermocline TES configuration reduces life cycle GHG emissions, most significantly for plants using synthetically-derived nitrate salts. CSP can significantly reduce GHG emissions compared to fossil-fueled generation; however, dry-cooling may be required in many locations to minimize water consumption. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references. |
| Funding |
Sponsored by National Renewable Energy Laboratory contract no. DE-AC36-08GO28308 |
| Subject |
Parabolic troughs.
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Solar concentrators.
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Water use.
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Greenhouse gas mitigation.
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Product life cycle -- Research.
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| Added Author |
Turchi, Craig S. (Craig Steven)
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Burkhardt, John J.
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National Renewable Energy Laboratory (U.S.)
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SolarPACES (Conference)
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| Gpo Item No. |
0430-P-04 (online) |
| Sudoc No. |
E 9.17:NREL/CP-6 A 20-52186 |
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