SOLAR THERMAL HYBRID FOR CUMBUSTION POWER PLANT

Abstract

A solar thermal hybrid system integrated with a combustion power plant offers a promising approach to significantly
reduce carbon emissions by utilizing concentrated solar thermal energy to partially replace fossil fuel combustion, resulting in
decreased fuel consumption while maintaining grid stability; this hybrid design leverages existing power plant infrastructure by
incorporating solar receivers to preheat combustion air or generate steam, thereby enhancing overall plant efficiency and
providing a pathway towards cleaner electricity generation with potential for further optimization through thermal energy
storage integration. The development of technologies to hybridise concentrating solar thermal energy (CST) and combustion
technologies, is driven by the potential to provide both cost-effective CO2 mitigation and firm supply. Hybridisation, which
involves combining the two energy sources within a single plant, offers these benefits over the stand-alone counterparts through
the use of shared infrastructure and increased efficiency. In the near-term, hybrids between solar and fossil fuelled systems
without carbon capture offer potential to lower the use of fossil fuels, while in the longer term they offer potential for low-cost
carbon-neutral or carbon-negative energy. The integration of CST into CO2 capture technologies such as oxy-fuel combustion
and chemical looping combustion is potentially attractive because the same components can be used for both CO2 capture and
the storage of solar energy, to reduce total infrastructure and cost. The use of these hybrids with biomass and/or renewable fuels,
offers the additional potential for carbon-negative energy with relatively low cost. In addition to reviewing these technologies,
we propose a methodology for classifying solar-combustion hybrid technologies and assess the progress and challenges of each.
Particular attention is paid to “direct hybrids”, which harness the two energy sources in a common solar receiver or reactor to
reduce total infrastructure and losses.