Figure of Merit Analysis of a Hybrid Solar-geothermal Power Plant

Figure of merit analysis is a general methodology used to evaluate whether a hybrid power plant could produce more power than two stand-alone power plants. In this paper, the assessment methodology using figure of merit analysis was re-examined for a hybrid solar-geothermal power plant. A new definition of the figure of merit was introduced specifically for a solar boosted geothermal plant to include both the technical and economic factors. The new definition was then applied in a case study of a hypothetical demonstration hybrid solar-geothermal power plant in Australia. The power plant was considered to have a typical net power output of 2.2 MW with a solar energy fraction of 27%. The analysis was performed to compare the power output and capital cost of the hybrid plant with the state-of-the-art (SoA) and existing stand-alone solar and geothermal plants. Based on the new definition, the hybrid plant was found to generally outperform the two existing stand-alone plants. Moreover, at an ambient temperature of 5 °C, the hybrid plant was found to outperform the SoA stand-alone plants when the geothermal temperature was greater than 150 °C. For geothermal temperature of 180 °C on the other hand, the hybrid plant outperformed the SoA stand-alone plants at ambient temperatures lower than 33 °C.

Cascade utilization of full spectrum solar energy for achieving simultaneous hydrogen production and all-day thermoelectric conversion

Solar-driven photocatalytic water/seawater splitting holds great potential for green hydrogen production.However,the practical application is hindered by the relatively low conversion efficiency resulting from the inadequate utilization of solar spectrum with significant waste in the form of heat.Moreover,current equipment struggles to maintain all-day operation subjected to the lack of light during nighttime.Herein,a novel hybrid system integrating photothermal catalytic(PTC)reactor,thermoelectric generator(TEG),and phase change materials(PCM)was proposed and designed(named as PTC-TEG-PCM)to address these challenges and enable simultaneous overall seawater splitting and 24-hour power generation.The PTC system effectively maintains in an optimal temperature range to maximize photothermal-assisted photocatalytic hydrogen production.The TEG component recycles the low-grade waste heat for power generation,complementing the shortcoming of photocatalytic conversion and achieving cascade utilization of full-spectrum solar energy.Furthermore,exceptional thermal storage capability of PCM allow for the conversion of released heat into electricity during nighttime,contributing significantly to the overall power output and enabling PTC-TEG-PCM to operate for more than 12 h under the actual condition.Compared to traditional PTC system,the overall energy conversion efficiency of the PTC-TEG-PCM system can be increased by∼500%,while maintaining the solar-to-hydrogen efficiency.The advancement of this novel system demonstrated that recycling waste heat from the PTC system and utilizing heat absorption/release capability of PCM for thermoelectric application are effective strategies to improve solar energy conversion.With flexible parameter designing,PTC-TEG-PCM can be applied in various scenarios,offering high efficiency,stability,and sustainability.

Hybrid PV/Wind/Diesel Based Distributed Generation for an Off-Grid Rural Village in Afghanistan

Afghanistan has a tremendous resource potential of renewable energy especially solar and the wind. Therefore, utilization of these resources has a special rule for the remote areas where access to the electrical grid or secure power supply is a dream for most of the people. This paper presents a feasibility and usefulness of hybrid power generation based on PV/wind/diesel generator for an off-grid rural village that feeds the load at a rate of average 7.9 kWh/day with 1.32 kW peak load. GsT （geospatial toolkit） is used to obtain the solar and wind data of the site. Windographer software is used to analyze the wind resource data of the site. HOMER Pro software package is used to select the suitable and reliable hybrid generation system and calculate the optimal capacities and costs of the components. Through the study, it is found that this state of the art adaptation could provide vast opportunities for off-grid rural communities such as in Afghanistan where enough high penetration of renewable energy is available.

A hybrid machine-learning model for solar irradiance forecasting

Nowcasting and forecasting solar irradiance are vital for the optimal prediction of grid-connected solar photovoltaic(PV)power plants.These plants face operational challenges and scheduling dispatch difficulties due to the fluctuating nature of their power output.As the generation capacity within the electric grid increases,accurately predicting this output becomes increasingly essential,especially given the random and non-linear characteristics of solar irradiance under variable weather conditions.This study presents a novel prediction method for solar irradiance,which is directly in correlation with PV power output,targeting both short-term and medium-term forecast horizons.Our proposed hybrid framework employs a fast trainable statistical learning technique based on the truncated-regularized kernel ridge regression model.The proposed method excels in forecasting solar irradiance,especially during highly intermittent weather periods.A key strength of our model is the incorporation of multiple historical weather parameters as inputs to generate accurate predictions of future solar irradiance values in its scalable framework.We evaluated the performance of our model using data sets from both cloudy and sunny days in Seattle and Medford,USA and compared it against three forecasting models:persistence,modified 24-hour persistence and least squares.Based on three widely accepted statistical performance metrics(root mean squared error,mean absolute error and coefficient of determination),our hybrid model demonstrated superior predictive accuracy in varying weather conditions and forecast horizons.

Solar aided power generation:A review

Solar Aided Power Generation(SAPG)is the most efficient and economic ways to hybridise solar thermal energy and a fossil fuel fired regenerative Rankine cycle(RRC)power plant for power generation purpose.In such an SAPG plant,the solar thermal energy is used to displace the extraction steam by preheating the feedwater to the boiler.The displaced/saved extraction steam can,therefore,expand further in the steam turbine to generate power.The research and development of the SAPG technology started in the 1990s.This paper is trying to reviews and summarises the progress of research and development of the SAPG plant technology in last almost 30 or so years,including the technical and economic advantages of SAPG over other solar thermal power generation tech-nologies(e.g.solar alone power generation),various modelling techniques used to simulate SAPG perforamnce,impacts of SAPG plant’s configuration,size of solar field and strategies to adjust mass flow rate of extraction steam on the plant perforamnce,exergy analysis of SAPG plant and operation strategies to maximise plant’s economic returns etc.In addition,the directions for future R&D about SAPG technology have been pointed/proposed in this paper.

光-煤互补复合发电系统综合性能分析

将扩容蒸发式槽式太阳能蒸汽发生系统与600 MW燃煤机组联合,构建了光-煤互补复合发电系统,建立了其变工况计算模型及技术经济评价模型,从太阳能侧、汽轮机侧及复合发电系统3方面进行了热力性能分析及技术经济性评估。结果表明,光-煤互补复合发电系统具有显著的节能减排效果,系统产生的太阳能蒸汽取代汽轮机第1段抽汽时效果最为明显,太阳能侧各指标随取代抽汽段数增大呈阶段性下降趋势,太阳能到电能的转换效率最高为23.5%;各集成模式下的单值发电成本相差不大,平均为0.19元/(kW·h);从净现值判断取代第1段抽汽是较好的选择,从净现值率、盈利能力判断取代第2段抽汽是较好的选择。

Combining solar power with coal-fired power plants,or cofiring natural gas

Coal-fired power operators continue to look for ways to increase the efficiency and extend the working lives of their plants by improving operational flexibility and reducing environmental impact.Two possible options are explored here:combining solar energy with coal-fired power generation,and cofiring natural gas in coal-fired plants.Both techniques show potential.Depending on the individual circumstances,both can increase the flexibility of a power plant whilst reducing its emissions.In some cases,plant costs could also be reduced.Clearly,any solar-based system is limited geographically to locations that receive consistently high levels of solar radiation.Similarly,although many coal-fired plants already burn limited amounts of gas alongside their coal feed,for cofiring at a significant level,a reliable,affordable supply of natural gas is needed.This is not the case everywhere.But for each technology,there are niche and mainstream locations where the criteria can be met.The need for good solar radiation means that the uptake of coal-solar hybrids will be limited.Cofiring natural gas has wider potential:currently,the largest near-term market appears to be for application to existing coal-fired plants in the USA.However,where gas is available and affordable,potential markets also exist in some other countries.