solar thermal power - Greenpeace
solar thermal power - Greenpeace
solar thermal power - Greenpeace
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Figure 10: AndaSol Configuration diagramatic scheme of the <strong>solar</strong> field, storage system and steam cycle at the<br />
AndaSol-1 project, southern Spain<br />
510,000 m 2<br />
Solar field<br />
2-Tank salt<br />
storage<br />
Steam turbine<br />
Solar<br />
superheater<br />
50 MWe<br />
Hot<br />
salt<br />
tank<br />
Condenser<br />
Steam<br />
generator<br />
Deaerator<br />
Cold<br />
salt<br />
tank<br />
Solar<br />
preheater<br />
Solar<br />
reheater<br />
Low pressure<br />
preheater<br />
Expansion<br />
vessel<br />
by the earliest system. Promising advanced heat pipe<br />
receivers and Stirling engines are currently under development<br />
with the aim of reducing costs.<br />
Australia<br />
The first 400 m 2 pilot “big dish” project with a capacity of up<br />
to 150kWth has been undergoing testing at the Australian<br />
National University since 1994. An alternative to the small unit<br />
philosophy, this is designed for <strong>power</strong> generation using a<br />
50kWe steam engine generator or for co-generation<br />
applications with <strong>solar</strong> steam production.<br />
Cost Trends<br />
The cost trend for dish collectors has already shown a sharp<br />
reduction, from €1,250/m2 in 1982 (40 m 2 array, Shenandoah,<br />
USA) to €150/m2 in 1992 (44 m 2 array, German SBP<br />
stretched-membrane dish).<br />
Overall installed plant capital costs for a first stand-alone 9 to<br />
10kWe dish/Stirling unit currently range from €10,000 to<br />
€14,000/kWe. If a production run of 100 units per year was<br />
achieved, this could fall to €7,100/kWe. In terms of electricity<br />
costs, an attainable near-term goal is a figure of less than 15<br />
€cents/kWh. In the medium to long term, with series<br />
production, dish/Stirling systems are expected to see<br />
drastically decreasing installed system costs.<br />
The goal of the European EuroDish project is for a reduction<br />
from €7,100/kWe, at a production rate of 100 units per year,<br />
to €3,700/kWe (1,000 units/year) to €2,400/kWe (3,000<br />
units/year) and eventually to €1,600/kWe (10,000 units/ year).<br />
Prices are unlikely to fall below that level due to the inherently<br />
highly modular technology. Medium to long-term installed dish<br />
collector costs are predicted to be in the range of €125 to<br />
€105/m 2 for high production rates. Advanced dish/Stirling<br />
systems are expected to compete in the medium to long term<br />
with similar sized diesel generator units at sunny remote sites<br />
such as islands.<br />
A 1999 US study on the utility market potential for dish<br />
systems concluded that costs will need to fall to between US$<br />
2,000 and US$ 1,200/kWe in order to achieve any significant<br />
market uptake. For initial market sectors, such as distributed<br />
generation, reliability and O&M costs will be crucial factors.<br />
Parabolic dish system commercialisation may well be helped<br />
by hybrid operation, although this presents a greater challenge<br />
with Stirling engines. Gas turbine based systems may present<br />
a more efficient alternative.<br />
5. Future Trends and Costs<br />
Two broad pathways have opened up for large scale delivery<br />
of electricity using <strong>solar</strong> <strong>thermal</strong> <strong>power</strong>. One is to combine the<br />
<strong>solar</strong> collection and heat transfer process with a conventional<br />
SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANTS 21
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