Southwest Research Institute and industry collaborators Solar Turbines
Inc., Oak Ridge National Laboratories, German Aerospace Center and San
Diego State University have been awarded a $3.8 million contract by the
U.S. Department of Energy to develop a novel gas turbine combustor for a
concentrating solar power (CSP) hybrid gas turbine system. The award was
given through DOE’s SunShot Initiative, a collaborative national effort
to make solar energy cost competitive with other forms of energy.
The majority of today’s commercial CSP plants generate steam to support
steam turbine electric power generation. The steam generated by these
state-of-the-art commercial CSP plants is limited to a maximum
temperature of 400ºC, yielding approximately 40 percent thermal
efficiencies. Even for developmental CSP technologies, these
efficiencies are well below those achievable with gas turbine combined
cycle plants, which can be well above 55 percent thermal efficiencies
and as high as 62 percent for state-of-the-art combined cycle power
plants. This project aims to combine the advantages of highly efficient
gas turbine power plants with concentrating solar power systems by
operating the gas turbine at up to 1,000ºC combustor air inlet
temperatures.
“To increase the CSP tower air receiver and gas turbine temperature
capabilities to 1,000ºC, SwRI and its collaborators will develop a novel
external gas turbine combustor, which can be integrated with a hybrid
CSP gas turbine power plant,” said Dr. Klaus Brun, a program director in
SwRI’s Mechanical Engineering Division who will serve as project manager
for the effort.
The project, to be conducted in three phases, is expected to begin in
August 2012, and will continue through 2015. In phase 1, researchers
will evaluate combustor concepts and develop the design. Phase 2 entails
fabrication of the combustion system, which will then be tested in phase
3.
For more information about this research at SwRI, contact Klaus Brun at klaus.brun@swri.org
or (210) 522-5449.
About SwRI:
SwRI is an independent, nonprofit, applied research and development
organization based in San Antonio, Texas, with more than 3,000 employees
and an annual research volume of more than $581 million. Southwest
Research Institute and SwRI are registered marks in the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office. For more information about Southwest Research
Institute, please visit newsroom.swri.org
or www.swri.org.
