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Analysis of a Hybrid Renewable Energy System Including a CST Plant Utilising a Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle for Off-Grid Power Generation

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Analysis of a Hybrid Renewable Energy System Including a CST Plant Utilising a Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle for Off-Grid Power Generation THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Engineering (BE/ME) Thesis Analysis of a hybrid renewable energy system including a CST plant utilising a supercritical CO2 power cycle for off-grid power generation Student Name: Vishak BALAJI Course Code: ENGG7290 Supervisor: Professor Hal GURGENCI Submission Date: 28 June 2018 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Engineering (BE/ME) degree in Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology Executive Summary The electrification of remote locations that lack grid-connectivity is a global challenge. In Australia, off-grid electricity accounts for 6% of total generation. At present these needs are met through the use of fossil fuels, resulting in a high electricity cost, and environmental consequences. With the present drive towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the use of renewable energies, there is an opportunity to transition from the use of fossil fuels in remote locations to the use of renewables. In this regard, the hybridisation of renewable technologies with diesel generators has been shown to improve reliability and increase penetration. This project aims to explore the use of a hybrid renewable energy system consisting of solar photovoltaic (PV) with battery storage, concentrating solar thermal (CST) with thermal storage and diesel generators for off-grid power generation. The analysis considers two major consumer groups, viz. mining sites and communities, at three locations – Newman, Port Augusta and Halls Creek. In particular, the solar thermal system explored utilises a supercritical carbon dioxide power cycle, due to the suitability of this technology at scales appropriate for off-grid use. This is necessitated due to the fact that existing CST plants typically utilise a steam Rankine cycle, which suffers reduced efficiencies at small scales. Based on the existing literature, the proposed technologies have been found to present excellent suitability to this application. A key area of interest with regards to the CST plant is the turbine inlet temperature, due to higher temperatures presenting a higher power cycle efficiency, which offers a route to reduce energy costs. However, these higher temperatures increase the power cycle and receiver costs, due to the requirement of higher performance materials. Increases in receiver losses are also seen at higher temperatures. Similarly, the CST plant also presents increasing field losses with increasing size. In this analysis, three turbine inlet temperatures (namely 650°C, 800°C and 1000°C) are explored. A Python program was developed, encapsulating the thermodynamics and operating characteristics of each technology, to simulate the performance of the hybrid system over the course of one year, based on weather data and a synthetic load profile. This simulation was then used along with an optimisation function to identify the optimal mix of technologies in the hybrid system based on the minimum levelised cost of energy (LCOE). Using this program, results were generated for community and mining consumer groups at the three locations, and it was found that in both cases the optimal mix consists of CST as the primary source of baseload power, with 12- 15 hours of thermal storage. While PV and diesel generators were both shown to be necessary, they represent a smaller fraction of the total energy production and serve as supplementary sources of power. Notably, none of the optima included battery storage, highlighting the high costs of this technology as compared to CST with thermal storage vis-a-vis providing baseload power. All of the scenarios explored presented a relatively high renewable fraction, ranging from 83-93%, and provide significant cost reductions over the diesel base case. This serves as an indication of the excellent solar resources available at all three sites. By comparing the three turbine inlet temperatures, the 650°C case presented the lowest LCOE. Although overall efficiency gains were seen at higher temperatures, with the power cycle efficiency increase outweighing the receiver losses, these gains were insufficient to compensate for the increased capital costs. In addition, the ratio of storage capacity to field capacity was found to be an important consideration with regards to minimising spilled energy from the CST plant. These results were consistent with previous work and expectations based on theory, and hence there is a high level of confidence in their veracity. Of the three locations, Halls Creek presented the lowest LCOE for both the community and mining cases ($0.158/kWh and $0.136/kWh respectively), with a cost reduction of 34% and 43% over the diesel base case ($0.24/kWh). As such, Halls Creek was deemed the optimal site for implementation. The compositions of these systems were 60%-32%-8% and 69%-24%-7% (CST- PV-diesel) in the community and mining case respectively, with a life-cycle emissions analysis revealing annual reductions in CO2 emissions of 88% and 89% over the diesel base case. Based on a sensitivity analysis, it was found that the LCOE was most sensitive to the CST capital costs and the discount rate (interest rate charged on loans), with the PV capital cost and diesel cost having a smaller but still notable influence. Based on these results, concept designs of the CST systems at Halls Creek were then produced using System Advisor Model (SAM), including optimised specifications and heliostat field layout. The overall requirements for the CST plants at Halls Creek were: • 1 MW power cycle capacity, 13 hours storage and solar multiple of 2.36 for the community. • 10 MW power cycle capacity, 13.2 hours storage and solar multiple of 2.59 for the mine. • A turbine inlet temperature of 650°C. The results of this analysis demonstrate that remote off-grid locations in Australia present excellent potential for the deployment of a CST-PV-diesel hybrid renewable energy system. The proposed systems are capable of uninterrupted power supply and have been shown to provide significant economic and environmental benefits over the conventional systems based on diesel generators. These hybrids therefore present a viable solution for achieving lower cost and environmentally friendly electricity for remote users. Contents 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Context ......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Aims and expected outcomes ...................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Scope boundaries ......................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Goals ............................................................................................................................................. 4 2 Project plan .......................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 5 2.2 Deliverables and milestones ........................................................................................................ 6 2.3 Key resources ............................................................................................................................... 6 2.4 Risks and opportunities ................................................................................................................ 7 2.4.1 Risks ...................................................................................................................................... 7 2.4.2 Opportunities ....................................................................................................................... 8 3 Literature review ................................................................................................................................ 10 3.1 Planning ...................................................................................................................................... 10 3.1.1 Scope .................................................................................................................................. 10 3.1.2 Key resources ..................................................................................................................... 10 3.2 Overview of the candidate technologies.................................................................................... 11 3.2.1 Solar photovoltaic and battery storage .............................................................................. 11 3.2.2 Concentrating solar thermal .............................................................................................. 14 3.2.3 Diesel generators ................................................................................................................ 16 3.3 Hybrid renewable energy studies .............................................................................................. 17 3.3.1 Overview of studies ............................................................................................................ 17 3.3.2 Study methodologies
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