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Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Plant in Tower Configuration with and without Thermal Energy Storage (TES)

Author

Listed:
  • Gemma Gasa

    (GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain)

  • Anton Lopez-Roman

    (Abengoa Energia, c/Energía Solar 1, 41012 Sevilla, Spain)

  • Cristina Prieto

    (Department of Energy Engineering, University of Seville, Camino de los Descubrimientos s/n, 41092 Seville, Spain)

  • Luisa F. Cabeza

    (GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain)

Abstract

Despite the big deployment of concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, their environmental evaluation is still a pending issue. In this paper, a detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) of a CSP tower plant with molten salts storage in a baseload configuration is carried out and compared with a reference CSP plant without storage. Results show that the plant with storage has a lower environmental impact due to the lower operational impact. The dependence on grid electricity in a CSP tower plant without storage increases its operation stage impact. The impact of the manufacturing and disposal stage is similar in both plants. When analyzed in detail, the solar field system and the thermal energy storage (TES) and heat transfer fluid (HTF) systems are the ones with higher impact. Within the storage system, the molten salts are those with higher impact. Therefore, in this study the impact of the origin of the salts is evaluated, showing that when the salts come from mines their impact is lower than when they are synthetized. Results show that storage is a key element for CSP plants not only to ensure dispatchability but also to reduce their environmental impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Gemma Gasa & Anton Lopez-Roman & Cristina Prieto & Luisa F. Cabeza, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Plant in Tower Configuration with and without Thermal Energy Storage (TES)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-20, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3672-:d:524289
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alexandra G. Papadopoulou & George Vasileiou & Alexandros Flamos, 2020. "A Comparison of Dispatchable RES Technoeconomics: Is There a Niche for Concentrated Solar Power?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-22, September.
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    4. González-Roubaud, Edouard & Pérez-Osorio, David & Prieto, Cristina, 2017. "Review of commercial thermal energy storage in concentrated solar power plants: Steam vs. molten salts," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 133-148.
    5. Oró, Eduard & Gil, Antoni & de Gracia, Alvaro & Boer, Dieter & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2012. "Comparative life cycle assessment of thermal energy storage systems for solar power plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 166-173.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Giambattista Guidi & Anna Carmela Violante & Simona De Iuliis, 2023. "Environmental Impact of Electricity Generation Technologies: A Comparison between Conventional, Nuclear, and Renewable Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-33, November.
    3. Luisa F. Cabeza & Emiliano Borri & Cristina Prieto, 2022. "Bibliometric Map on Corrosion in Concentrating Solar Power Plants," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-16, April.
    4. Abokersh, Mohamed Hany & Norouzi, Masoud & Boer, Dieter & Cabeza, Luisa F. & Casa, Gemma & Prieto, Cristina & Jiménez, Laureano & Vallès, Manel, 2021. "A framework for sustainable evaluation of thermal energy storage in circular economy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 686-701.
    5. Rahman, Abidur & Farrok, Omar & Haque, Md Mejbaul, 2022. "Environmental impact of renewable energy source based electrical power plants: Solar, wind, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal, tidal, ocean, and osmotic," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    6. Ashok Bhansali & Namala Narasimhulu & Rocío Pérez de Prado & Parameshachari Bidare Divakarachari & Dayanand Lal Narayan, 2023. "A Review on Sustainable Energy Sources Using Machine Learning and Deep Learning Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-18, August.
    7. Puig-Samper, Gonzalo & Bargiacchi, Eleonora & Iribarren, Diego & Dufour, Javier, 2022. "Assessing the prospective environmental performance of hydrogen from high-temperature electrolysis coupled with concentrated solar power," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 1258-1268.

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