Life cycle assessment of a parabolic trough concentrating solar power plant and impacts of key design alternatives : preprint /

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Heath, Garvin A.
Corporate Authors:	National Renewable Energy Laboratory (U.S.), SolarPACES (Conference)
Other Authors:	Turchi, Craig S. (Craig Steven), Burkhardt, John J.
Format:	Government Document Conference Proceeding eBook
Language:	English
Published:	Golden, CO : National Renewable Energy Laboratory, [2011]
Series:	Conference paper (National Renewable Energy Laboratory (U.S.)) ; 6 A 20-52186.
Subjects:	Parabolic troughs. Solar concentrators. Water use. Greenhouse gas mitigation. Product life cycle > Research.
Online Access:	https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo15636

Description
Abstract:	Climate change and water scarcity are important issues for today's power sector. To inform capacity expansion decisions, hybrid life cycle assessment is used to evaluate a reference design of a parabolic trough concentrating solar power (CSP) facility located in Daggett, California, along four sustainability metrics: life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water consumption, cumulative energy demand (CED), and energy payback time (EPBT). This wet-cooled, 103 MW plant utilizes mined nitrate salts in its two-tank, thermal energy storage (TES) system. Design alternatives of dry-cooling, a thermocline TES, and synthetically-derived nitrate salt are evaluated. During its life cycle, the reference CSP plant is estimated to emit 26 g CO2eq per kWh, consume 4.7 L/kWh of water, and demand 0.40 MJeq/kWh of energy, resulting in an EPBT of approximately 1 year. The dry-cooled alternative is estimated to reduce life cycle water consumption by 77% but increase life cycle GHG emissions and CED by 8%. Synthetic nitrate salts may increase life cycle GHG emissions by 52% compared to mined. Switching from two-tank to thermocline TES configuration reduces life cycle GHG emissions, most significantly for plants using synthetically-derived nitrate salts. CSP can significantly reduce GHG emissions compared to fossil-fueled generation; however, dry-cooling may be required in many locations to minimize water consumption.
Item Description:	Title from title screen (viewed Oct. 10, 2011). "September 2011." "To be presented at SolarPACES 2011, Granada, Spain, September 20 - 23, 2011." Electronic resource.
Physical Description:	1 online resource (8 pages).
Format:	Full text available via Internet in .pdf format. Adobe Acrobat Reader required.
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references.