IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcli/v5y2015i11d10.1038_nclimate2717.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Solar thermal technologies as a bridge from fossil fuels to renewables

Author

Listed:
  • Vishwanath Haily Dalvi

    (Institute of Chemical Technology, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Matunga, Mumbai 400019, India)

  • Sudhir V. Panse

    (Institute of Chemical Technology, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Matunga, Mumbai 400019, India)

  • Jyeshtharaj B. Joshi

    (Institute of Chemical Technology, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Matunga, Mumbai 400019, India
    Homi Bhabha National Institute, 2nd Floor, BARC Training School Complex)

Abstract

Integrating solar thermal systems into Rankine-cycle power plants can be done with minimal modification to the existing infrastructure. This presents an opportunity to introduce these technologies into the commercial space incrementally, to allow engineers to build familiarity with the systems before phasing out fossil-fuel energy with solar electricity. This paper shows that there is no thermodynamic barrier to injecting solar thermal heat into Rankine-cycle plants to offset even up to 50% fossil-fuel combustion with existing technology: with better solar-to-electricity efficiencies than conventionally deployed solar-thermal power plants. This strategy is economically preferable to installing carbon-capture and compression equipment for mitigating an equivalent amount of greenhouse-gas emissions. We suggest that such projects be encouraged by extending the same subsidy/incentives to the solar-thermal fraction of a ‘solar-aided’ plant that would be offered to a conventionally deployed solar-thermal power plant of similar capacity. Such a policy would prepare the ground for an incremental solar-thermal takeover of fossil-fuel power plants.

Suggested Citation

  • Vishwanath Haily Dalvi & Sudhir V. Panse & Jyeshtharaj B. Joshi, 2015. "Solar thermal technologies as a bridge from fossil fuels to renewables," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(11), pages 1007-1013, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:5:y:2015:i:11:d:10.1038_nclimate2717
    DOI: 10.1038/nclimate2717
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate2717
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nclimate2717?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Biswas, D.B. & Bose, S. & Dalvi, V.H. & Deshmukh, S.P. & Shenoy, N.V. & Panse, S.V. & Joshi, J.B., 2020. "A techno-economic comparison between piston steam engines as dispatchable power generation systems for renewable energy with concentrated solar harvesting and thermal storage against solar photovoltai," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    2. Gao, Yang & Ma, Shaoxiu & Wang, Tao, 2019. "The impact of climate change on wind power abundance and variability in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    3. Desai, Brijesh & Barodawala, Azhir & Dalvi, Vishwanath H., 2021. "Efficient power generation along with thermal treatment of aqueous stream using low grade heat," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    4. Thalange, Vinayak C. & Dalvi, Vishwanath H. & Mahajani, Sanjay M. & Panse, Sudhir V. & Joshi, Jyeshtharaj B. & Patil, Raosaheb N., 2017. "Design, optimization and optical performance study of tripod heliostat for solar power tower plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 610-624.
    5. Gharat, Punit V. & Bhalekar, Snehal S. & Dalvi, Vishwanath H. & Panse, Sudhir V. & Deshmukh, Suresh P. & Joshi, Jyeshtharaj B., 2021. "Chronological development of innovations in reflector systems of parabolic trough solar collector (PTC) - A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    6. Yuan, Shunpan & Yan, Rui & Ren, Bibo & Du, Zongliang & Cheng, Xu & Du, Xiaosheng & Wang, Haibo, 2021. "Robust, double-layered phase-changing microcapsules with superior solar-thermal conversion capability and extremely high energy storage density for efficient solar energy storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 725-733.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcli:v:5:y:2015:i:11:d:10.1038_nclimate2717. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.