Session: 05-13 Heliostat Consortium 3

Paper Number: 116768

116768 - Heliostat Field Optimization for Power Tower Solar Industrial Process Heat Applications 

Concentrating solar power towers are unique among renewable energy technologies in their ability to directly generate high temperatures. This attribute makes CSP power towers ideally suited for high temperature industrial process heat (IPH) applications. This presentation outlines the potential roles for CSP power towers in high-temperature IPH applications. A cavity reciever using a heat transfer fluid and thermal energy strorage was chosen for the CSP power tower system. We chose temperatures ranging from between 500 °C and 1,500 °C and developed base cases for heliostat field layouts. Next, we performed a parametric analysis on the heliostat field for each IPH temperature studied to determine the factors that most affect system  performance as the process temperature changes. The presentation also demonstrates how the levelized cost of heat changes as a function of both process temperature and tower/receiver costs and can be used to guide system designs in future IPH projects.

Presenting Author: Chad Augustine National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Presenting Author Biography: Chad Augustine is a senior analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). His work during 14 years at the lab includes geothermal, concentrating solar power, and energy storage technologies. Chad received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT.