Mapping the techno-economic potential of next-generation CSP plants running on transcritical CO2-based power cycles

Although the thermodynamic potential of transcritical/supercritical power cycles running on CO2 2 mixtures for next generation Concentrated Solar Power plants has been already confirmed in literature, further investigation to assess the actual feasibility of this technology from a techno-economic standpoint is needed. In fact, large uncertainty is found when it comes to the estimation of the CapEx of the power block, and the same can be said for the solar subsystem when higher-than-SoA SoA operating temperature are considered. In this paper, two CSP schemes, with different maximum operating temperatures, are studied: one employing molten salts and another based on solid particles. To overcome the high uncertainty in terms of cost estimation, a two-step analysis is developed: firstly, the CapEx of the entire plant, except for the power block, is calculated assuming correlations from literature. As a result, the minimum power block cost allowing an LCoE lower than a certain target is identified. Secondly, an inverse methodology is applied, setting the power block cost and assessing the minimum CapEx of the solar subsystem. As a result, a map is obtained showing the target CapEx to be accomplished by sCO2+CSP 2 +CSP if a clear reduction of the LCoE of this technology is to be achieved.