| Abstract | The following paper is based off the research published by Brady Bokelman, Efstathios Michaelides, and Dimitrios Michaelides in the Energies Journal titled A Geothermal-Solar Hybrid Power Plant with Thermal Storage. The purposed of this research is to explore the possibility of using butane or pentane as a secondary fluid in a geothermal-solar hybrid power plant. This paper will look at variations in power produced as well as the heat energy needed to produce such powers with geothermal fluid entering the system primarily at 160 °C but also the lower range of 140 °C. The power plant design operates in two modes: first, as a binary geothermal power plant operating in a subcritical Organic Rankine Cycle; second, as a hybrid geothermal-solar power plant operating as a supercritical cycle with the solar energy providing the extra heat. This solar heat energy will be stored in molten salts as thermal storage to be later used in the early evening. This second mode allows for the plant to produce up to nine times the power that the first mode produces and at a higher efficiency (16.8%). The constant flow of geothermal brine and heat storage in the molten salts allows this plant to constantly produce power at exergetic efficiencies higher than 30%. The following paper is based off the research published by Brady Bokelman, Efstathios Michaelides, and Dimitrios Michaelides in the Energies Journal titled A Geothermal-Solar Hybrid Power Plant with Thermal Storage. The purposed of this research is to explore the possibility of using butane or pentane as a secondary fluid in a geothermal-solar hybrid power plant. This paper will look at variations in power produced as well as the heat energy needed to produce such powers with geothermal fluid entering the system primarily at 160 °C but also the lower range of 140 °C. The power plant design operates in two modes: first, as a binary geothermal power plant operating in a subcritical Organic Rankine Cycle; second, as a hybrid geothermal-solar power plant operating as a supercritical cycle with the solar energy providing the extra heat. This solar heat energy will be stored in molten salts as thermal storage to be later used in the early evening. This second mode allows for the plant to produce up to nine times the power that the first mode produces and at a higher efficiency (16.8%). The constant flow of geothermal brine and heat storage in the molten salts allows this plant to constantly produce power at exergetic efficiencies higher than 30%. |
