Solar Thermal Energy (STE)
With new supercritical CO2 technology large scale Solar Thermal plants have the potential to exceed photovoltaic (PV) systems
in both efficiency and daily hourly output. High-temperature tracking parabolic collectors concentrate sunlight
on receivers at temperatures rising up to 700C.
Increasing temperature increases thermal efficiency up to the 45-50% range (compared to 15% for photovoltaic PV systems).
Tracking parabolic collectors are constantly adjusted keeping the zenith and azimuth angles perpendicular to the Sun maximizing concentrated sunlight throughout daylight hours.
Dishes are designed in a modular system that will produce approximately 150MWh per module per day.
Supercritical CO2 technology will enable power generation during non daylight hours by using biofuel as an alternative heat sourse for the same power cycle, and optionally used concurrently with solar energy.
Thermaldyne intends on using biogas and biochar byproducts of its thermal depolymerization project as environmentally friendly biofuel.
Thermaldyne's hybrid approach will enable load balancing providing the constant output typical of baseload power plants.
Southern Alberta receives about 332 days of sunshine annually totaling 2,570 hours, the highest in Canada.
The supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) Brayton cycle operates in a manner similar to other turbine cycles, however, it uses CO2 as the working fluid in the turbomachinery. The cycle is operated above the critical point of CO2 so that it does not change phases (from liquid to gas), but rather undergoes drastic density changes over small ranges of temperature and pressure. This allows a large amount of energy to be extracted at high temperature from equipment that is relatively small in size. SCO2 turbines will have a nominal gas path diameter an order of magnitude 10X smaller than utility scale combustion turbines or steam turbines.
Environmental Benefits replacing Coal
The average Coal plant emits 980kg CO2 per MWh of electrical power produced.
160 acre (one quarter section of land) 25MW Solar Array will generate 150MWh/day.
150MWh/day x 980kg CO2 = 147 Tons of CO2 per day.
332 days of sunshine per year x 147 Tons of CO2 per day =
48,800 Tons of CO2 per year per quarter section
640 acre (one full section of land) 100MW Solar Array will generate 600MWh/day.
600MWh/day x 980kg CO2 = 588 Tons of CO2 per day.
332 days of sunshine per year x 588 Tons of CO2 per day =
195,200 Tons of CO2 per year per full section
Environmental Benefits replacing Natural Gas
The average Natural Gas plant emits 549kg CO2 per MWh of electrical power produced.
160 acre (one quarter section of land) 25MW Solar Array will generate 150MWh/day.
150MWh/day x 549kg CO2 = 82 Tons of CO2 per day.
332 days of sunshine per year x 82 Tons of CO2 per day =
27,200 Tons of CO2 per year per quarter section
640 acre (one full section of land) 100MW Solar Array will generate 600MWh/day.
600MWh/day x 549kg CO2 = 329 Tons of CO2 per day.
332 days of sunshine per year x 329 Tons of CO2 per day =
109,200 Tons of CO2 per year per full section
