Towards zero water consumption in solar tower power plants Articles uri icon

publication date

  • September 2020

start page

  • 1

end page

  • 15

issue

  • 178

volume

  • 178

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1359-4311

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1873-5606

abstract

  • Important efforts are dedicated to reduce water use in the power generation sector. In this paper the use of a dry Heller cooling system is proposed to diminish the water consumption of a concentrated solar tower power plant. The Heller system is an indirect cooling system where the exhaust steam from the turbine is condensed in a direct contact heat exchanger. Part of the condensate and cooling water are pumped to the feed water heaters while the rest is pumped to the dry cooling tower. In this particular case a natural draft dry cooling tower is employed. The detailed cycle of the power block and the cooling system have been modeled. The results indicate a reduction of the annual energy production of less than 2% compared to a wet cooling system, and an increase of the energy production by more than 3% compared to a mechanically.

subjects

  • Industrial Engineering