Publications
Incorporating supercritical steam turbines into molten-salt power tower plants :
Sandia National Laboratories and Siemens Energy, Inc., examined 14 different subcritical and supercritical steam cycles to determine if it is feasible to configure a molten-salt supercritical steam plant that has a capacity in the range of 150 to 200 MWe. The effects of main steam pressure and temperature, final feedwater temperature, and hot salt and cold salt return temperatures were determined on gross and half-net efficiencies. The main steam pressures ranged from 120 bar-a (subcritical) to 260 bar-a (supercritical). Hot salt temperatures of 566 and 600ÀC were evaluated, which resulted in main steam temperatures of 553 and 580ÀC, respectively. Also, the effects of final feedwater temperature (between 260 and 320ÀC) were evaluated, which impacted the cold salt return temperature. The annual energy production and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) were calculated using the System Advisory Model on 165 MWe subcritical plants (baseline and advanced) and the most promising supercritical plants. It was concluded that the supercritical steam plants produced more annual energy than the baseline subcritical steam plant for the same-size heliostat field, receiver, and thermal storage system. Two supercritical steam plants had the highest annual performance and had nearly the same LCOE. Both operated at 230 bar-a main steam pressure. One was designed for a hot salt temperature of 600ÀC and the other 565ÀC. The LCOEs for these plants were about 10% lower than the baseline subcritical plant operating at 120 bar-a main steam pressure and a hot salt temperature of 565ÀC. Based on the results of this study, it appears economically and technically feasible to incorporate supercritical steam turbines in molten-salt power tower plants.