BINOTTI , Marco

This paper presents an assessment of different control strategies to be applied in central receiver systems operating with molten salts. The objective is to identify the best control scheme to achieve a threefold objective: (i) to ensure that the outlet temperature of the receiver remains at the highest possible value, (ii) to guarantee that...

Dispatchability is a key issue to increase the competitiveness of concentrating solar power plants. Thermochemical energy storage systems are a promising alternative to molten salt-based storage because of the higher energy storage density and the possibility of increasing the storage period. Among possible thermochemical systems,...

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (sCO2) power cycles have been proposed for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) applications as a means to increase the performance and reduce the cost of state-of-the-art CSP systems. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of sCO2 systems to the usually hot ambient temperatures found in solar sites compromises the actual...

The present paper explores the utilisation of dopants to increase the critical temperature of Carbon Dioxide (sCO2) as a solution towards maintaining the high thermal efficiencies of sCO2 cycles even when ambient temperatures compromise their feasibility. To this end, the impact of adopting CO2-based mixtures on the performance of power blocks...