Energetic, exergetic and environmental (3E) analyses of different cooling technologies (wet, dry and hybrid) in a CSP thermal power plant
C.G. Cutillas, Javier Ruiz Ramírez, Faisal Asfand, Kumar Patchigolla, M. Lucas
Abstract
This paper deals with the comparison of three condensation systems for the heat dissipation in a solar power plant: wet system, dry system and hybrid system based on the pre-cooling of the air in an adiabatic panel located in the entrance section of a dry system. Energy, exergy and environmental (3E) analyses were conducted to assess the influence of the condensation system on the power plant performance. The Andasol I plant located in Granada (Spain), with a net power capacity of 50 MWe, is used as a real reference case of a concentrated solar power station. The cycle refrigerated with a cooling tower achieves a lower pressure of condensation, followed by the hybrid and dry system. As the pressure decreases, the efficiency of the cycle increases and also the power generated, being 12.60% in the case of cooling tower and 4.65% in the hybrid system with respect the dry condenser. A 71.74% of water usage savings by the hybrid system carries a 7.06% of net power production with regard of the cooling tower configuration. The exergetic performance of the plant is 73.77% for the wet system, 69.21% for the hybrid and 68.46% for the dry system.