PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF A SOLAR TOWER POWER PLANT INTEGRATED WITH HYDROGEN ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM

Abstract

In this paper, an exergy-economic model is developed to analyze the performance of a direct steam solar tower - steam turbine - organic Rankine cycle (ORC) power plant under different working conditions. The solar power plant is connected to a power grid, and it is integrated with a hydrogen storage system. The hydrogen storage system is composed of an electrolyser, fuel cell, steam turbine and organic Rankine cycle. When solar energy is not available, electrical power is generated by the fuel cell, steam turbine and ORC using the hydrogen produced by the electrolyzer. The analyses are made for the maximum solar irradiation that is available in the city of YAZD in Iran. The effects of the current density and operating temperature on the performance of the solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) are investigated. The effect of solar irradiation on the energy and exergy efficiencies of the cycle is investigated. The results indicate that increase of the solar irradiation leads to an increase of the energy and exergy efficiencies of the cycle. The solar tower has the highest exergy destruction and capital investment cost. © 2022 Proceedings of WHEC 2022 - 23rd World Hydrogen Energy Conference: Bridging Continents by H2. All rights reserved.