Session: 08-01: Deployment and Analysis of CSP Subsystems

Paper Number: 170151

170151 - Component Downselection for a Particle-Based Csp System 

Abstract: 

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Worley, and Steve Schell Innovations are designing an energy microgrid called the Advanced Solar Generation and Resiliency Deployment (ASGARD). The objective is to perform a preliminary front-end engineering and design (FEED) study to assess and choose energy technologies that will ensure cost competitive energy resilience for Kirtland Air Force Base (KAFB).

The downselection criteria emphasizes technoeconomic and resiliency criteria to choose a system that strategically combines grid and on-site generation to meet the loads of SNL and KAFB at a competitive cost. The result is a hybrid plant that is connected to the electric grid and natural gas infrastructure, but also uses concentrating solar power (CSP), photovoltaic power, long-duration thermal energy storage, and lithium-ion batteries to provide weeks of resilient on-site generation in the event that the base is disconnected from civilian infrastructure. If a loss of gas infrastructure were to occur, several tankers of natural gas would need to be stored on-site to provide resiliency. Thermal energy storage was found to be highly compatible with gas turbomachinery and, unlike gas tankers, can be productive during normal operations providing cost savings. For integration of thermal energy storage, a 1 to 1 combined cycle is chosen with a TES system augmenting the combustors. Particle-based TES media was selected because at this very large scale, it is lower cost than lithium-ion batteries and molten salt and avoids reliability issues found in molten salt tanks of CSP plants. It is efficiently charged with on-site generation (required for grid outages) using heliostats and a falling particle receiver. To reduce land usage and technology risk exposure, these novel particle CSP technologies would be limited in scale to a 40 MWt receiver with some of the energy supplied by a commercially mature photovoltaic array. A cost optimization was performed to assess the relative size of the PV/CSP contributions. On-site PV primarily contributes directly to baseload during the day which enables daily off-cycling of the gas turbine, leading to savings during sunny periods. This all of the above energy configuration provides mutual redundancy and a high degree of resiliency. Gas is used to back up the CSP system when the solar variability or maintenance would otherwise hinder performance. CSP ensures heat is available to one or both turbines to eliminate downtime from routine or unanticipated long duration non-availability of the gas systems. The PV and CSP alone are sized to provide weeks of power to support critical loads for the base even through the worst-case weather events.

Presenting Author: Jeremy Sment Sandia National Laboratories

Presenting Author Biography: Jeremy Sment is a researcher and Principal Engineer at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he has worked since 2010. In his role at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility, Jeremy leads a team of particle-based CSP experts on the Generation 3 Particle Pilot Plant currently under construction. Jeremy focuses on thermal energy storage and market adoption of CST applications for industrial heat and solar wastewater treatments concerning the thermal decomposition of PFAS. Jeremy also specializes in system integration, commercialization, and techoeconomics and leads the Field Deployment task in HelioCon in collaboration with NREL. In this role, he has had the opportunity to conduct a series of interviews with industry experts around the world to develop a high-level understanding of solar field deployments in the context of US energy market trends. He is currently performing studies on site-selection and the impacts of heliostats and solar panels on desert tortoise habitats, and heliostat foundation requirements. Throughout his career, Jeremy has performed CFD modeling and measurements of wind loading over heliostat fields, and developed functions for photovoltaic power models and heliostat flux mapping and calibration tools. More recently, Jeremy has developed structural cost modeling tools for receiver towers with tower-integrated storage, particle hoists conveyance machinery, and ground based hot-particle silo construction. Jeremy holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico.