Concentrating solar collectors integrated with low CO2 emissions ultra supercritical power plants

This paper focuses on the evaluation of the potential benefits arising from the integration of concentrating solar systems with coal-based Ultra Supercritical (USC) power plants with post-Combustion CO 2 Capture (PCC). In this study, the USC-PCC plant was integrated with a concentrating solar field with or without a thermal energy storage section. Different collector technologies (parabolic trough and linear Fresnel) and heat transfer fluids (direct steam generation and molten salts) were analyzed and compared. The performance of both solar field and power plant were evaluated by means of specifically developed models, by using data sets of a typical meteorological year for two sites in Italy and Morocco. A preliminary cost analysis was finally carried out.