Energetic and exergetic analysis of Rankine cycles for solar power plants with parabolic trough and thermal storage

Abstract

The paper analyzes the “secondary” circuit (for thermodynamic conversion) of a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant with thermodynamic cycle, whose mirrors field supplies a thermal power, averaged over a sunny day, of about 100 MW heat. We study the case of parabolic trough solar collector using silicone oil in the “primary” circuit, which limits the peak temperature below 400 °C. The “primary” circuit uses thermal storage, allowing a delay between the power generation in rapport with the solar energy capture. We choose a water-steam cycle, type Hirn. For increasing its efficiency, it has regenerative feed water preheating and steam reheating. We compared, energetic and exergetic, two types of cycles, using a numerical model with iterative structure, developed by the authors. The results showed that the simplified design achieves practically the same thermodynamic performances with the advanced one.