Greenhouse gas reductions on the cheap: Solar-aided coal plants

Though we've made great strides with renewable energy, widespread implementation has proven to be economically challenging, in part due to the existing fossil fuel infrastructure. One promising renewable technology is solar-thermal energy, which harnesses solar energy to generate either heat or electricity. When coupled with a cost-effective thermal storage strategy, it promises to deliver baseload electricity through the existing power grid. Unfortunately, to be an economically attractive option, solar-thermal energy generation requires rather large installs, at tens of megawatts of capacity, which can be quite expensive.

But there's an intriguing approach that solves both the issues of size and existing infrastructure: integrating solar thermal into existing fossil fuel power plants. A new analysis suggests it's both economical and less harmful to the environment. Instead of trying to completely replace what's already up and running, this strategy provides time for an incremental shift in the power supply and gives the engineers running the plants a chance to familiarize themselves with a stream of technological changes.

From an engineering perspective, these changes would have a major impact on several aspects of the energy and material flow of the plant, which the analysis addresses. The authors demonstrate that solar-aided plants can achieve enhanced solar-to-electric conversion efficiencies without running into issues that limit other solar-powered technologies. Critically, they could cut the use of fossil fuels in half.

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