Exergoeconomic Comparison of Conventional Molten Salts Versus Calcium Based Ternary Salt as Direct HFT-TES in CSP Parabolic Troughs Collectors
Abstract
This paper presents an exergo-economic comparison of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Parabolic Trough Collectors (PTC) using two alternative types of molten salts as direct Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) and Thermal Energy Storage (TES) based on operational simulations. The plant size and configuration is inspired in the PTC plant with molten salts HTF and TES currently under development in Evora - Portugal while the molten salts assessed are conventional molten salt (Solar Salt) and a Lithium based ternary salt. The objective of this study is to establish a comparison of performance, exergetic efficiency and destruction and cost contribution per component in the plant for the two types of HTF salts. The applied methodology allows to identify the suitability of use for the studied salts, to detect challenges in terms of cost and performance at component level and to identify the cost composition of the CSP electricity as final product, according to the exergetic efficiency, investment and operational cost per component for each case.