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A Cost‐Performance Analysis of a Sodium Heat Engine for Distributed Concentrating Solar Power
Author(s) -
Gunawan Andrey,
Singh Abhishek K.,
Simmons Richard A.,
Haynes Megan W.,
Limia Alexander,
Ha Jong Min,
Kottke Peter A.,
Fedorov Andrei G.,
Lee Seung Woo,
Yee Shan K.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced sustainable systems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.499
H-Index - 24
ISSN - 2366-7486
DOI - 10.1002/adsu.201900104
Subject(s) - cost of electricity by source , capital cost , stirling engine , tec , environmental science , process engineering , context (archaeology) , distributed generation , electricity generation , computer science , nuclear engineering , power (physics) , engineering , mechanical engineering , electrical engineering , thermodynamics , renewable energy , physics , biology , ionosphere , paleontology , astronomy
A sodium thermal electrochemical converter (Na‐TEC) generates electricity directly from heat through isothermal expansion of sodium ions across a beta″‐alumina solid‐electrolyte. This heat engine has been considered for use with conventional concentrating solar power (CSP) systems before. However, unlike previous single‐stage devices, the improved design uses two stages with an interstage reheat, allowing more economical and efficient conversion up to 29% at a hot side temperature of 850 °C. Herein, a cost‐performance analysis for this improved design assesses opportunities for distributed‐CSP in the context of micro‐combined heat and power systems. A high‐level techno‐economic analysis (TEA) is presented that explores four scenarios where a Na‐TEC is used as the heat engine for a distributed‐CSP system. Overnight capital cost and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) are estimated for a system lifetime of 30 years, revealing that overnight capital costs in a range from $3.57 to $17.71 per W e are feasible, which equate to LCOEs from 6.9 to 17.2 cents kWh e −1 . This analysis makes a significant contribution by concurrently quantifying the efficiency and unit costs for a range of multistage configurations, and demonstrating that a Na‐TEC may be a promising alternative to Stirling engines for distributed‐CSP systems at residential scale of 1–5 kW e .