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Techno‐economic analysis of a hybrid solar‐geothermal power plant integrated with a desalination system
Author(s) -
Aviles Daniel,
Sabri Farhad,
Hooman Kamel
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.6948
Subject(s) - cost of electricity by source , desalination , photovoltaic system , photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector , environmental science , process engineering , electricity generation , environmental engineering , waste management , geothermal desalination , thermal energy storage , electricity , engineering , electrical engineering , power (physics) , chemistry , biochemistry , ecology , physics , quantum mechanics , biology , membrane
Summary This paper proposes the use of a hybrid 5 MW power generation system combining concentrated solar thermal and solar photovoltaic technology where the efficiency of the power block is increased by taking advantage of hot water from a low‐temperature geothermal source. Aiming at a case study for Winton in Queensland the pertinent meteorological data are used for our simulations. In addition, the paper analyzes the feasibility of including a thermal desalination technology that uses the waste heat from the power block for producing clean water from wastewater. Our design replaces the traditional dry cooling system with a water‐cooled heat exchanger to remove the waste heat from the power block. Finally, this work explores the ratio of concentrated solar thermal and photovoltaic electricity production that optimizes the levelized cost of electricity and water production. the results indicate that the incorporation of the desalination system does not produce a significant increase in this value, and the optimal ratio of electricity production is obtained when the photovoltaic system contributes to 27.5% of the total electricity generation. Our water production cost can be as low as 40 ₵/m 3 while for the combined system our minimum levelized cost of electricity figures out at 12.4 ₵/kWh to generate the base load with thermal storage.