Exergoeconomic Comparison of Conventional Molten Salts versus Calcium Based Ternary Salt as Direct HTF-TES In CSP Parabolic Troughs Collectors

This paper presents an exergo-economic comparison of a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Parabolic Trough Collectors (PTC) loop using two alternative types of molten salts as direct Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) and Thermal Energy Storage (TES) based on operational simulations. The plant size and configuration are inspired in the PTC loop with molten salts HTF and TES currently under deployment at University of Evora in Portugal while the molten salts assessed are conventional molten salt (Solar Salt) and a Calcium based ternary salt. The objective of this study is to establish a comparison of exergetic performance and cost contribution per component in the plant for the two types of HTF. The applied methodology allows to identify the suitability of use for the studied salts, to detect challenges in terms of cost and performance at component level and to identify the cost composition of the CSP electricity as final product, according to the exergetic efficiency, investment and operational cost per component for each case.