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Hybridizing concentrated solar power (CSP) with biogas and biomethane as an alternative to natural gas: Analysis of environmental performance using LCA

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  • San Miguel, G.
  • Corona, B.

Abstract

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants typically incorporate one or various auxiliary boilers operating in parallel to the solar field to facilitate start up operations, provide system stability, avoid freezing of heat transfer fluid (HTF) and increase generation capacity. The environmental performance of these plants is highly influenced by the energy input and the type of auxiliary fuel, which in most cases is natural gas (NG). Replacing the NG with biogas or biomethane (BM) in commercial CSP installations is being considered as a means to produce electricity that is fully renewable and free from fossil inputs. Despite their renewable nature, the use of these biofuels also generates environmental impacts that need to be adequately identified and quantified. This paper investigates the environmental performance of a commercial wet-cooled parabolic trough 50 MWe CSP plant in Spain operating according to two strategies: solar-only, with minimum technically viable energy non-solar contribution; and hybrid operation, where 12% of the electricity derives from auxiliary fuels (as permitted by Spanish legislation). The analysis was based on standard Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology (ISO 14040-14040). The technical viability and the environmental profile of operating the CSP plant with different auxiliary fuels was evaluated, including: NG; biogas from an adjacent plant; and BM withdrawn from the gas network. The effect of using different substrates (biowaste, sewage sludge, grass and a mix of biowaste with animal manure) for the production of the biofuels was also investigated. The results showed that NG is responsible for most of the environmental damage associated with the operation of the plant in hybrid mode. Replacing NG with biogas resulted in a significant improvement of the environmental performance of the installation, primarily due to reduced impact in the following categories: natural land transformation, depletion of fossil resources, and climate change. However, despite the renewable nature of the biofuels, other environmental categories like human toxicity, eutrophication, acidification and marine ecotoxicity scored higher when using biogas and BM.

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  • San Miguel, G. & Corona, B., 2014. "Hybridizing concentrated solar power (CSP) with biogas and biomethane as an alternative to natural gas: Analysis of environmental performance using LCA," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 580-587.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:66:y:2014:i:c:p:580-587
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2013.12.023
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Dongli Tan & Yao Wu & Zhiqing Zhang & Yue Jiao & Lingchao Zeng & Yujun Meng, 2023. "Assessing the Life Cycle Sustainability of Solar Energy Production Systems: A Toolkit Review in the Context of Ensuring Environmental Performance Improvements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-37, July.
    6. Pantaleo, Antonio M. & Camporeale, Sergio M. & Sorrentino, Arianna & Miliozzi, Adio & Shah, Nilay & Markides, Christos N., 2020. "Hybrid solar-biomass combined Brayton/organic Rankine-cycle plants integrated with thermal storage: Techno-economic feasibility in selected Mediterranean areas," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P3), pages 2913-2931.
    7. Mauricio Bustamante & Abraham Engeda & Wei Liao, 2021. "Small-Scale Solar–Bio-Hybrid Power Generation Using Brayton and Rankine Cycles," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-16, January.
    8. Amiri, Farshad & Tahouni, Nassim & Azadi, Marjan & Panjeshahi, M. Hassan, 2016. "Design of a hybrid power plant integrated with a residential area," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P1), pages 746-755.
    9. Blanca Corona & Diego Ruiz & Guillermo San Miguel, 2016. "Life Cycle Assessment of a HYSOL Concentrated Solar Power Plant: Analyzing the Effect of Geographic Location," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-14, May.
    10. 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.
    11. Li, Ruixiong & Zhang, Haoran & Wang, Huanran & Tu, Qingshi & Wang, Xuejun, 2019. "Integrated hybrid life cycle assessment and contribution analysis for CO2 emission and energy consumption of a concentrated solar power plant in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 310-322.
    12. Xiao, Tingyu & Liu, Chao & Wang, Xurong & Wang, Shukun & Xu, Xiaoxiao & Li, Qibin & Li, Xiaoxiao, 2022. "Life cycle assessment of the solar thermal power plant integrated with air-cooled supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 119-133.
    13. Awasthi, Mukesh Kumar & Sarsaiya, Surendra & Wainaina, Steven & Rajendran, Karthik & Awasthi, Sanjeev Kumar & Liu, Tao & Duan, Yumin & Jain, Archana & Sindhu, Raveendran & Binod, Parameswaran & Pandey, 2021. "Techno-economics and life-cycle assessment of biological and thermochemical treatment of bio-waste," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    14. Portugal-Pereira, Joana & Köberle, Alexandre C. & Soria, Rafael & Lucena, André F.P. & Szklo, Alexandre & Schaeffer, Roberto, 2016. "Overlooked impacts of electricity expansion optimisation modelling: The life cycle side of the story," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P2), pages 1424-1435.
    15. Petrollese, Mario & Cocco, Daniele, 2020. "Techno-economic assessment of hybrid CSP-biogas power plants," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 420-431.
    16. Powell, Kody M. & Rashid, Khalid & Ellingwood, Kevin & Tuttle, Jake & Iverson, Brian D., 2017. "Hybrid concentrated solar thermal power systems: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 215-237.

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