| Popis: |
Although studies on the levelized cost of energy (LCoE) of concentrating solar power (CSP) plants were published in recent years, these studies were not related to the environmental impact generated. To fill this literature gap, this study compares the environmental impacts generated by four tower solar thermal plants with different storage capacities, 3, 6, 9, and 17.5 equivalent hours in nominal conditions were considered, being the plant of 17.5 h, a plant in operation. Results show that the environmental impacts generated throughout its useful life decrease when storage capacity increases. But when the storage capacity goes from 9 h to 17.5 h, the impacts generated are practically the same. Of the four plants analyzed, the most environmentally efficient plant is the one with a storage capacity of 9 h. This work was partially funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades de España (RTI2018-093849-B-C31 - MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) and by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades - Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) (RED2018-102431-T). This work is partially supported by ICREA under the ICREA Academia programme. The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group (2017 SGR 1537). GREiA is certified agent TECNIO in the category of technology developers from the Government of Catalonia. |
