Seasonal Performance Characterization of a Gen3 Particle-Based Concentrating Solar Plant With a Spatially Resolved Transient Thermal Storage Model

Particle-based Gen3 Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) can be paired with high-temperature power cycles (>700 °C) and can have built-in long duration (≥10 hours) thermal energy storage if the working particles are stored properly in thermal energy storage bins. Although high-temperature and long-duration thermal energy storage can mitigate daily intermittencies in solar irradiation, seasonal variability in local meteorological conditions can still have a significant impact on the overall performance of CSP systems. Aside from daily cloud coverage affecting incident solar radiation, wind speed and ambient temperature are also significant variables regarding system heat attenuation, component efficiency, and overall solar conversion efficiency. In this work, we present simulation results for a Gen3 CSP prototype system in operation over four weeks throughout the year in Albuquerque, NM. The meteorological conditions are taken directly from the TMY3 data at the Albuquerque International Sunport, where the hourly Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI), wind speed, and ambient temperature are of particular interest. An investigation of the sensitivity of individual components like storage and ducting to the local meteorological conditions is provided and extended to the overall performance of the CSP system. The results from this study show that the particle inlet temperature at the particle-to-sCO2 heat exchanger can change as fast as 30 °C/min under standard operation in a passive mode.