LAPSE:2018.1109
Published Article
LAPSE:2018.1109
Life Cycle Assessment of a HYSOL Concentrated Solar Power Plant: Analyzing the Effect of Geographic Location
Blanca Corona, Diego Ruiz, Guillermo San Miguel
November 28, 2018
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology is developing in order to achieve higher energy efficiency, reduced economic costs, and improved firmness and dispatchability in the generation of power on demand. To this purpose, a research project titled HYSOL has developed a new power plant, consisting of a combined cycle configuration with a 100 MWe steam turbine and an 80 MWe gas-fed turbine with biomethane. Technological developments must be supported by the identification, quantification, and evaluation of the environmental impacts produced. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the environmental performance of a CSP plant based on HYSOL technology using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology while considering different locations. The scenarios investigated include different geographic locations (Spain, Chile, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and South Africa), an alternative modelling procedure for biomethane, and the use of natural gas as an alternative fuel. Results indicate that the geographic location has a significant influence on the environmental profile of the HYSOL CSP plant. The results obtained for the HYSOL configuration located in different countries presented significant differences (between 35% and 43%, depending on the category), especially in climate change and water stress categories. The differences are mainly attributable to the local availability of solar and water resources and composition of the national electricity mix. In addition, HYSOL technology performs significantly better when hybridizing with biomethane instead of natural gas. This evidence is particularly relevant in the climate change category, where biomethane hybridization emits 27.9⁻45.9 kg CO₂ eq per MWh (depending on the biomethane modelling scenario) and natural gas scenario emits 264 kg CO₂ eq/MWh.
Keywords
biomethane, Chile, environment, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Mexico, Natural Gas, solar energy, South Africa, Spain
Suggested Citation
Corona B, Ruiz D, San Miguel G. Life Cycle Assessment of a HYSOL Concentrated Solar Power Plant: Analyzing the Effect of Geographic Location. (2018). LAPSE:2018.1109
Author Affiliations
Corona B: Department of Chemical and Environmental, Engineering, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales (ETSII), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, c/ José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, Madrid 28006, Spain [ORCID]
Ruiz D: Department of Chemical and Environmental, Engineering, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales (ETSII), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, c/ José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, Madrid 28006, Spain
San Miguel G: Department of Chemical and Environmental, Engineering, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales (ETSII), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, c/ José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, Madrid 28006, Spain
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Journal Name
Energies
Volume
9
Issue
6
Article Number
E413
Year
2016
Publication Date
2016-05-27
Published Version
ISSN
1996-1073
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PII: en9060413, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2018.1109
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doi:10.3390/en9060413
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Nov 28, 2018
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Nov 28, 2018
 
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Calvin Tsay
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