100% renewable energy generation with integrated solar energy systems

Abstract

In this study, heat, electricity and hydrogen production performances of integrated solar energy systems producing 100% renewable energy were investigated. For this purpose, energy analyzes of the systems were performed to evaluate the systems in terms of usability. Two types of integrated systems were used in this analyzes. The first system is consisted of a solar pond (SP) integrated with an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). The second is comprised of a solar pond integrated with evacuated tubes collectors (EVTCs) and the ORC that works with organic liquids. The analysis of these systems was performed by Engineering Equation Solver (EES) under solar energy, which is known as one of the 100% renewable energy sources. With ORC, low and medium temperature hot water sources have been used to generate electricity in important areas. When the low temperature of the water is increased with solar collectors, electricity production efficiency is increased. Furthermore, the performance of ORC in the system was evaluated in terms of thermodynamics. As a result, it was found that integrated systems can produce thermal energy, electricity and hydrogen efficiently from one hundred percent renewable sources. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.