Load matching and techno-economic analysis of CSP plant with S–CO2 Brayton cycle in CSP-PV-wind hybrid system

Abstract In this work, the load matching and techno-economic performance of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants based on four supercritical CO2 (S–CO2) Brayton cycles, different solar multiple (SM) and thermal energy storage (TES) capacities are analyzed in a CSP-PV-wind hybrid system. The performance of CSP plant for meeting varied power demand in hybrid system and stable power demand are compared. Results show the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of CSP plant based on partial-cooling cycle under load following scenarios in hybrid system is 32.1% higher than that under stable output scenarios. The optimal SM to achieve the lowest LCOE under stable output scenarios is much larger than that under load following scenarios in hybrid system. As SM and TES capacity increase, the capacity factor of hybrid system increases and can even exceed 90%, which represents that CSP plant can cooperate well with PV and wind plants to provide stable base loads. The LCOE of CSP plant first decreases and then increases with the increase of SM and TES capacities. The CSP plant based on partial-cooling cycle has the best economic performance, and achieves the lowest LCOE of 0.2169 $/kWh with SM of 2.4 and TES capacity of 20 h.