A Cost‐Performance Analysis of a Sodium Heat Engine for Distributed Concentrating Solar Power. (19th February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gunawan, Andrey; Singh, Abhishek K.; Simmons, Richard A.; Haynes, Megan W.; Limia, Alexander; Ha, Jong Min; Kottke, Peter A.; Fedorov, Andrei G.; Lee, Seung Woo; Yee, Shannon K.
• Is Part Of: Advanced sustainable systems. Volume 4:Number 6(2020)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2020-02-19
• Subjects: clean technologies -- economics -- energy conversion and storage -- green technology -- solar power; Sustainable living -- Periodicals; Sustainability -- Periodicals; Green technology -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 628
• DOI: 10.1002/adsu.201900104
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2366-7486

Abstract

Abstract: A sodium thermal electrochemical converter (Na‐TEC) generates electricity directly from heat through isothermal expansion of sodium ions across a beta″‐alumina solid‐electrolyte. This heat engine has been considered for use with conventional concentrating solar power (CSP) systems before. However, unlike previous single‐stage devices, the improved design uses two stages with an interstage reheat, allowing more economical and efficient conversion up to 29% at a hot side temperature of 850 °C. Herein, a cost‐performance analysis for this improved design assesses opportunities for distributed‐CSP in the context of micro‐combined heat and power systems. A high‐level techno‐economic analysis (TEA) is presented that explores four scenarios where a Na‐TEC is used as the heat engine for a distributed‐CSP system. Overnight capital cost and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) are estimated for a system lifetime of 30 years, revealing that overnight capital costs in a range from $3.57 to $17.71 per We are feasible, which equate to LCOEs from 6.9 to 17.2 cents kWhe −1 . This analysis makes a significant contribution by concurrently quantifying the efficiency and unit costs for a range of multistage configurations, and demonstrating that a Na‐TEC may be a promising alternative to Stirling engines for distributed‐CSP systems at residential scale of 1–5 kWe . Abstract : A cost‐performance analysis of a novel dual‐stage sodium heat engine (Na‐TEC) in distributed concentrating solar power (CSP) systems for residential micro‐combined heat and power applications is presented in this study. One integration scenario, utilizing thermal energy storage, is shown here. For distributed‐CSP, the Na‐TEC offers a smaller scale, no‐moving‐part alternative to Stirling engines with the possibility of achieving high efficiencies.