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1 19/20 MAY 2011 Presentation
Co-Generation of Electricity and Desalinated Water from Solar Energy
(An enabling technology to adaptation to climate change
in the Mediterranean and the Middle east)
C.N. Papanicolas
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A view from Cyprus
Solar potential excellent!
•The only EU country in MENA!
•EU presidency in 2012: adaptation to climate change
•“gateway role” for Cyprus & the Cyprus Institute
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Climate Change effects
Robust climate model predictions: Climate Change will effect severely the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East: •Drastic reduction of water precipitation
•Longer dry spells Increase in maximum Temp. in
summer (cf. 1980-1999)
2080 - 2099
2080 - 2099
Precipitation Difference in winter
months (cf. 1980-1999)
(CyI’s Climate Metastudy)
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The Regional Water Problem
Freshwater deficit MENA countries
Source: DLR, AQUA-CSP Report
Source: WDD
Reduced precipitation in Cyprus has increased the
strain in water resources
Increasing stress of Water resources in the region due to reduced precipitation, and exhaustion or contamination of underwater reservoirs
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0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050
Year
Gro
ss E
lectr
icit
y C
on
su
mp
tio
n T
Wh
/a
Turkey
Spain
Portugal
Malta
Italy
Greece
Tunisia
Morocco
Libya
Egypt
Algeria
Yemen
UAE
Syria
Saudi Arabia
Qatar
Oman
Lebanon
Kuwait
Jordan
Israel
Iraq
Iran
Cyprus
Bahrain
Scenario Closing the
Gap / High Efficiency
Historical Data
Gross Electricity Consumption in the region
Source: DLR, MED-CSP Report
Electricity: Increased Demand
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The need
• The Mediterranean and Middle East region’s already strained water resources will be further reduced due to the climatic changes.
• MENA countries depend heavily on carbon fuel to satisfy energy demand, producing large quantities of CO2 a potent greenhouse gas, further exacerbating the problem.
The problem of Water and Energy Resources in the region requires a viable, environmentally friendly solution.
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The Renewables Solution Given the following constraints of:
• Climate change and greenhouse gas emissions
• Energy security
• Soaring fuel prices
the region's energy needs (including the additional required energy for desalination) could be substantially covered by Solar Power.
Availability of solar power matches seasonal demand
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RES availability in Cyprus
The Renewables Solution
Solar potential excellent!
• small cloud coverage
• high irradiation factor throughout the year
• highest of EU countries
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Solar Energy in Cyprus
Solar Energy in Cyprus • No 1 in the world in the use solar power for home hot
water usage of Solar Energy • Electricity production derives mainly from isolated PV
systems, which are expensive and are not easily combined with affordable storage solutions
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) presents a better suited solution for Cyprus. It takes advantage of the high irradiance but can also be combined with heat storage in an efficient and economically viable way.
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• Solar Power Solar power is fast becoming the lead contender in clean energy production, especially in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern region.
• Desalination Desalination has always been a proven and dependable solution for water in the region.
A co-generation scheme combined with Solar Power and a Storage solution can maximize efficiency, cut down costs and provide an enduring and reliable solution.
This solution is ideal for isolated grids such as Mediterranean islands and coastal regions
The CSP-DSW Solution
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The CSP-DSW Study
Study Scope: Techno-economic assessment for Solar Thermal (CSP) co-production of electricity and desalinated water
Funded by: The Cyprus Government
Coordinator: The Cyprus Institute (CyI)
Research Partners:
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) • University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) • Electric Authority of Cyprus (EAC)
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• An examination of current technologies for Desalination and Electricity Production using CSP for Cyprus
• An assessment of the maturity of the available technologies for implementation in a pilot and a commercial plant.
• An innovative conceptual design for a Pilot plant for Cyprus, with proposals for its various subsystems
• Operational parameters, capacity and an operational plan of the proposed pilot plant.
• An Economic Assessment of the proposed technology.
The Study Focused on:
The CSP-DSW Study
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The advantages of CSP-DSW are realized only when the power and desalination cycles are integrated thermally and optimized together.
CSP-DSW co-generation simplified concept
The CSP-DSW co-generation scheme will try to utilise the all available thermal energy from the various subsystems
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Conceptual Design of a CSP-DSW Plant
Flowsheet of the considered plant
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CSPonD Central Receiver simplified concept
The molten salt acts both as the central receiver and as the storage component. This lowers capital costs significantly, regardless of the cosine loss
The “beam-down” concept, utilises hilly terrain for Heliostats to concentrate light into a molten salt container.
A. Slocum et al MIT Patent Pending.
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New Technologies Considered
• Beam Down geometries utilizing hilly terrain.
• Integrated receiver & Storage technologies
• New generation of Heliostat fields
• Downsizing CSP plants (below 5MW)
The know how available in high tech hubs (DESY – an excellent example particularly valuable)
Complementarity to Desert tech initiative.
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The CSP-DSW Study
System Description: SOLAR HARVESTING AND HEAT STORAGE Solar energy will be harvested by a field of Heliostats on a hilly, south facing, location near the sea. The solar energy will be captured by a central receiver and stored in a salt container of novel design at high temperatures (500-600ο C).
POWER PRODUCTION Steam will be generated from the heat reservoir of the salt container. Electricity will be produced using commercially available Steam extraction turbine.
DESALINATION Desalinated water will be produced using an innovative Multiple Effect Distillation (MED) with a Thermal Vapour Compressor, principally from the heat output of the steam turbine and other heat sources of the system. A hybrid solution (MED+RO) might introduce further flexibility and efficiency.
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• The concept of CSP co-generation is sound both from an engineering and an economic –policy point of view.
• The advantages of CSP-DSW are realized only when the power and desalination cycles are optimized together. NOT SERIALLY
• The utilization of a south facing hilly terrain on the south coast of Cyprus as the preferred location is recommended. The technology is suitable for islands and coastal areas
• A detailed business model reveals that such a plant, will be economically profitable in Cyprus (feed-in tariff of 26c/kWh!).
Study Conclusions
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• An investigation of the commercially available components reveals that key components are not tested for the particular application (e.g. conditions of saline humid costal environment).
• A number of “custom” solutions that need to be engineered for
the particular application, such as the receiver and storage units, which are at the conceptual level sound and promising, have not yet been demonstrated or tested to a sufficient degree.
These final two conclusions dictate that, a number of technologies and new designs must be tested in realistic conditions for application in Cyprus, Mediterranean and MENA countries in order to reduce financial risk to an acceptable level
Study Conclusions
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CyI Current Research
Testing will take place at the CyI Pentakomo field facility
Second Phase of CSP-DSW Project: Testing and Demonstration of critical subsystems to assess the robustness and suitability of the technologies for demanding environments
These test will validate the technology’s suitability for the region, and determine environment-specific adjustments and modifications
Systems to be tested: - CyI Experimental High-efficiency, high focus Heliostat - Beam down concept using hilly terrain - Integration of Thermal Storage - Experimental unit for Thermal Desalination
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Overall Budget: 1.3 million Euros Duration: 2 years
Goal: Construct and test a small (a few kWth) Solar Thermal Co-generation unit at Pentacomo to verify the validity of the concept and develop adoption strategies for the technology. It will act as guide for the a larger (4 MW) pilot plant planned in Cyprus
Partners: • Electricity Authority of Cyprus • Water Development Department of Cyprus • Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas/PRAXI
Creation of a Demonstration Unit at Pentacomo
CyI Latest Research Project
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Solar Laboratory at Pentacomo
Fully instrumented
meteorological station
Additional Solar
Desalination Experiments
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Pentakomo
Solar Laboratory at Pentacomo
The site that will host the unit is an extended research laboratory for solar and desalination experiments
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Molten salt
Non-imaging
refractory lid
Hot salt
to HX
Receiver heat extraction:
Molten salt
Lid cooling loop
Molten salt volumetric
absorption
Integrated thermal storage
Beam-down hillside heliostat
field
Cold salt
from HX
Insulated
aperture doors
Lid heat
extraction
A realization one experiments
we are considering
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Concluding Remarks
The cogeneration of electricity and desalinated seawater using solar energy is feasible and we project that in few years it will be economically competitive:
Advantages: • Ideally suited to the Mediterranean and
MENA environment • Optimal for coastal areas and islands • Addresses security issues
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Concluding Remarks
• The scientific collaboration between the EU and the MENA region is imperative for addressing water and energy issues (climate!)
• New technologies, can be developed, adapted and deployed in large scale easier if an extended scientific network is in place.
The Solar Energy for Science initiative is a big step
in this direction
• The scientific and technological know how of communities isolated from the energy production (e.g. accelerator community) need to bring heir formidable know how to serve this pressing need of humanity.
