Session: 07-02: CSP Systems Analysis for Heat and Electricity Applications

Paper Number: 132130

132130 - Balancing Concentrating Solar Power and Thermal Storage With Photovoltaics and Battery Storage to Meet Carbon-Free Electricity and Resilience Goals 

Abstract: 

Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants with integrated thermal energy storage (TES) are often coupled with photovoltaics (PV) + chemical battery energy storage (BES) to balance system cost and diurnal power availability. Sandia National Laboratories has been tasked with designing an advanced solar energy system to power Kirtland Air Force Base (KAFB) where the lab is co-located in Albuquerque, NM, USA. This design process requires optimization of individual components of the hybrid system, as well as the balance between generation types, storage types, and overall generation and storage.

The final hybrid CSP+TES/PV+BES design for KAFB is required to (1) fit within a designated land area (1000 acres) and must (2) meet minimum resilience goals for laboratory and military installations (30 days off-grid for a designated critical load) and (3) federal requirements for renewable energy generation (Executive Order 14057/The Federal Sustainability Plan), while (4) minimizing the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). These ranked criteria present the technical challenge of determining the proportions, deployment, and interplay of each technology, to maximize the energy harvested from the fixed land area and meeting real-time power loads.

CSP, PV, and energy storage are an ideal combination to leverage the low cost of real-time PV energy, high temporal responsivity of BES, and long-term storage of CSP+TES. We have developed a model chain that simulates these components and their ability to meet the site load profile and required resilience metrics. Power generation is simulated with SolarPilot/CoPylot for CSP and pvlib-python for PV, calculated on 23 years of real hourly weather data measured at the Albuquerque Sunport (adjacent to KAFB). Hourly load profiles for Sandia/KAFB were generated from a combination of real load profiles for 1 calendar year, scaled to projected monthly peak loads for the site for 2023 to 2033. We have also developed deployment algorithms for “normal” and “off-grid” scenarios. The former captures power flows for PV and CSP in an iterative hourly process: real-time power to hourly load, BES and/or TES power to load, excess power charging BES and/or TES (from either generation source as selected), and grid power to load when not met by CSP/PV/TES/BES. The “off-grid” deployment algorithm evaluates system performance for endurance for a lower, constant critical load, and disallowed grid power usage.

Preliminary modeling efforts have shown that a hybrid CSP+TES/PV+BES on 1000 acres of land in Albuquerque, NM is sufficient for net-zero power generation Sandia/KAFB. However, the ability to meet the load in real-time (and minimize energy export) requires equilibrium of generation and storage assets. Our results also show that excess PV used to charge TES improves resilience and overall renewables-to-load for the system. For this conference we will present the results of a parametric study varying the land use proportions of CSP and PV, and TES and BES capacities. We evaluate the effects of these variables on energy generation, real-time load satisfaction, site resilience to grid outages, and LCOE, to determine viable hybrid solar energy designs and their cost implications.

Presenting Author: Luke Mclaughlin Sandia National Laboratories

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Luke McLaughlin is a R&D Mechanical Engineer at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility at Sandia National Laboratories. He has researched problems involving thermal systems, solar energy, energy storage, heat and mass transfer, combustion, biomass conversion, aerosol characterization, and computational modelling. Dr. McLaughlin has authored three scientific journal articles and authored over 10 scientific conference papers. Dr. McLaughlin received his MS and PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Wyoming in 2019, and 2022, respectively, and he was a recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2019.

Authors:

Jennifer Braid Sandia National Laboratories
Luke Mclaughlin Sandia National Laboratories
Nathan Schroeder Sandia National Laboratories
Henk Laubscher Sandia National Laboratories
Jeremy Sment Sandia National Laboratories
Joshua Stein Sandia National Laboratories