Exergoeconomic analysis for the design improvement of supercritical CO2 cycle in concentrated solar plant

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) Vol. 206; p. 118024
• Main Authors: Guelpa, Elisa, Verda, Vittorio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2020; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; Configurations; Cost analysis; Cost function; Design improvement; Design improvements; Design parameters; Economic analysis; Energy system optimization; Exergoeconomics; Exothermic reactions; Mathematical analysis; Optimization; Solar power; Storage units; Supercritical CO2 cycles; Thermochemical storage; Thermoeconomic analysis; Exergoeconomics; Supercritical CO2 cycles; Energy system optimization; Design improvement; Thermoeconomic analysis; Thermochemical storage
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.118024
• ISSN: 0360-5442

In this work, an exergoeconomic analysis is applied to the power cycle of a concentrated solar plant for its design improvement. A supercritical CO2 cycle connected with the exothermic reactor of a thermochemical storage unit is considered. The analysis is conducted with the goal of highlighting the advantages of exergoeconomic analysis while suggesting changes to both the design parameters and the system configuration. Starting from the plant configuration which guarantees the maximum efficiency, the exergoeconomic analysis is iteratively applied with the goal of reducing the unit cost of electricity. The analysis is conducted in a way that cost functions of the components can be substituted with the cost analysis of specific designs. This is a big advantage of this procedure, which is suitable for applications in which economic analysis requires a detailed knowledge of the system characteristics. The procedure is then validated comparing the results with those obtained through mathematical optimization.