Environmental Impacts of a Solar Dish Coupled With a Micro-Gas Turbine for Power Generation

Concentrated solar power (CSP) systems are regarded as a renewable energy source technology that can contribute to decoupling the energy mix from fossil fuel combustion and related environmental impacts. However, current small-scale CSP technologies (e.g., Dish-Stirling) have not entered the market...

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Autores principales:	A. Agostini, C. Carbone, M. Lanchi, A. Miliozzi, M. Misceo, V. Russo
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:	solar dish small-scale CSP micro gas turbine (MGT) environmental impact life cycle assessment (LCA) General Works A
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a3298cb2e35243a0998a3ec79c5bb17e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a3298cb2e35243a0998a3ec79c5bb17e2021-11-30T11:56:13ZEnvironmental Impacts of a Solar Dish Coupled With a Micro-Gas Turbine for Power Generation2296-598X10.3389/fenrg.2021.776821https://doaj.org/article/a3298cb2e35243a0998a3ec79c5bb17e2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2021.776821/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/2296-598XConcentrated solar power (CSP) systems are regarded as a renewable energy source technology that can contribute to decoupling the energy mix from fossil fuel combustion and related environmental impacts. However, current small-scale CSP technologies (e.g., Dish-Stirling) have not entered the market yet due to high costs, complexity, and poor reliability. The EU-funded OMSoP (Optimised Microturbine Solar Power) project aimed at solving the small-scale CSP shortcomings by coupling a solar dish with the consolidated and relatively cheap technology of the micro gas turbine (MGT). In this study, an environmental life cycle assessment analysis of the production and operation of a CSP-MGT system is performed following an eco-design approach, thus identifying the environmental hotspots and how the system can be improved in terms of environmental impacts. The results of the analysis, per unit of electricity produced, were compared to other renewable technologies with the same level of dispatchability to better evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the system under exam. With regard to climate change, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the CSP-MGT system resulted in the same range as those generated by photovoltaic systems. However, the system can substantially be optimized and the GHG emissions per kWh can be reduced up to 73% with respect to the built prototype. The GHG emissions are much lower than the current Italian energy mix (by up to 94%). To reduce the environmental burden of CSP-MGT plants, the system design here considered should be revised by improving the component’s performance and significantly reducing the reflective surface and therefore the structural materials for the dish foundation and frame. The replacement of steel in the dish frame with aluminum increases all the environmental impact parameters and primary energy demand (17%–27% depending on the environmental category considered) but slightly reduces abiotic element depletion (by 9%).A. AgostiniC. CarboneM. LanchiA. MiliozziM. MisceoV. RussoFrontiers Media S.A.articlesolar dishsmall-scale CSPmicro gas turbine (MGT)environmental impactlife cycle assessment (LCA)General WorksAENFrontiers in Energy Research, Vol 9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	solar dish small-scale CSP micro gas turbine (MGT) environmental impact life cycle assessment (LCA) General Works A
spellingShingle	solar dish small-scale CSP micro gas turbine (MGT) environmental impact life cycle assessment (LCA) General Works A A. Agostini C. Carbone M. Lanchi A. Miliozzi M. Misceo V. Russo Environmental Impacts of a Solar Dish Coupled With a Micro-Gas Turbine for Power Generation
description	Concentrated solar power (CSP) systems are regarded as a renewable energy source technology that can contribute to decoupling the energy mix from fossil fuel combustion and related environmental impacts. However, current small-scale CSP technologies (e.g., Dish-Stirling) have not entered the market yet due to high costs, complexity, and poor reliability. The EU-funded OMSoP (Optimised Microturbine Solar Power) project aimed at solving the small-scale CSP shortcomings by coupling a solar dish with the consolidated and relatively cheap technology of the micro gas turbine (MGT). In this study, an environmental life cycle assessment analysis of the production and operation of a CSP-MGT system is performed following an eco-design approach, thus identifying the environmental hotspots and how the system can be improved in terms of environmental impacts. The results of the analysis, per unit of electricity produced, were compared to other renewable technologies with the same level of dispatchability to better evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the system under exam. With regard to climate change, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the CSP-MGT system resulted in the same range as those generated by photovoltaic systems. However, the system can substantially be optimized and the GHG emissions per kWh can be reduced up to 73% with respect to the built prototype. The GHG emissions are much lower than the current Italian energy mix (by up to 94%). To reduce the environmental burden of CSP-MGT plants, the system design here considered should be revised by improving the component’s performance and significantly reducing the reflective surface and therefore the structural materials for the dish foundation and frame. The replacement of steel in the dish frame with aluminum increases all the environmental impact parameters and primary energy demand (17%–27% depending on the environmental category considered) but slightly reduces abiotic element depletion (by 9%).
format	article
author	A. Agostini C. Carbone M. Lanchi A. Miliozzi M. Misceo V. Russo
author_facet	A. Agostini C. Carbone M. Lanchi A. Miliozzi M. Misceo V. Russo
author_sort	A. Agostini
title	Environmental Impacts of a Solar Dish Coupled With a Micro-Gas Turbine for Power Generation
title_short	Environmental Impacts of a Solar Dish Coupled With a Micro-Gas Turbine for Power Generation
title_full	Environmental Impacts of a Solar Dish Coupled With a Micro-Gas Turbine for Power Generation
title_fullStr	Environmental Impacts of a Solar Dish Coupled With a Micro-Gas Turbine for Power Generation
title_full_unstemmed	Environmental Impacts of a Solar Dish Coupled With a Micro-Gas Turbine for Power Generation
title_sort	environmental impacts of a solar dish coupled with a micro-gas turbine for power generation
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/a3298cb2e35243a0998a3ec79c5bb17e
work_keys_str_mv	AT aagostini environmentalimpactsofasolardishcoupledwithamicrogasturbineforpowergeneration AT ccarbone environmentalimpactsofasolardishcoupledwithamicrogasturbineforpowergeneration AT mlanchi environmentalimpactsofasolardishcoupledwithamicrogasturbineforpowergeneration AT amiliozzi environmentalimpactsofasolardishcoupledwithamicrogasturbineforpowergeneration AT mmisceo environmentalimpactsofasolardishcoupledwithamicrogasturbineforpowergeneration AT vrusso environmentalimpactsofasolardishcoupledwithamicrogasturbineforpowergeneration
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Environmental Impacts of a Solar Dish Coupled With a Micro-Gas Turbine for Power Generation

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