Session: 08-02: Technoeconomic Analysis of CSP and Thermal Energy Storage Systems

Paper Number: 156770

156770 - Techno-Economic Analysis of a Novel Csp and Sco₂-Based System for Waste Heat Recovery in Gas Turbine Power Plants 

Abstract: 

The urgent need to address global warming and climate change has accelerated the shift toward sustainable energy solutions. While renewable energy deployment has been a focal point in this transition, waste heat recovery (WHR) offers a crucial and often underutilized opportunity to reduce emissions. Waste heat, a byproduct of industrial processes and conventional power generation methods, is typically released into the atmosphere, resulting in significant lost potential. Recovering and repurposing this waste heat to generate power or supply thermal energy presents a valuable avenue for improving overall energy efficiency. Gas turbine-based power plants, in particular, release substantial amounts of high-temperature waste heat (often exceeding 500°C) into the atmosphere, leading to energy loss and environmental impact. In this study, we propose a concentrated solar power (CSP) with a supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) power cycle-based waste heat recovery system that combines CSP with the exhaust heat from gas turbines to power a sCO₂ power cycle. CSP, with its dispatchable nature and thermal storage capabilities, has emerged as a promising renewable source. However, standalone CSP systems face a high levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) because of integrated storage compared to variable renewables. By integrating CSP with waste heat from gas turbines, we address these cost challenges, enabling a lower LCOE while maintaining CSP's advantages and enhancing WHR performance through temperature and power enhancement. A comprehensive techno-economic model is developed and analyzed for the proposed CSP-WHR system. The system uses central receiver technology with molten salt as the heat transfer fluid. We use the Python API of the System Advisor Model (SAM) to simulate the solar field and thermal storage, which is then integrated with a gas turbine exhaust and sCO₂ power cycle model. A parametric analysis further optimizes the system-level performance of the CSP-WHR system. The case study focuses on a location in Western Australia. In Australia and many other countries, simple (open) cycle gas turbines (such as the LM2500) are commonly used in the mining industry for power generation, and with increasing gas prices, this is becoming untenable. These mining locations are in remote areas and not connected to grids, which makes the reliable supply of power critical. Our results indicate that integrating CSP with waste heat recovery can significantly reduce the LCOE compared to standalone CSP, offering a more sustainable energy solution for the mining sector.

Keywords: Concentrated solar power, gas turbine, waste heat, combined cycle, supercritical carbon dioxide, power generation.

Presenting Author: Laura Schaefer Rice University

Presenting Author Biography: Laura Schaefer