Publications Details

Design and Implementation of a 1-3 MW_th sCO₂ Support Loop for Gen3 CSP Primary Heat Exchangers

Carlson, Matthew D.; Alvarez, Francisco

The generation 3 concentrating solar power, or Gen3CSP, campaign seeks to de-risk and deploy a CSP pilot plant through three parallel project tracks focused on solid, liquid, and gas-phase primary heat transfer fluids. Although the components between the sun and the primary heat exchanger from the thermal storage system differ with each track, the supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) coolant system required to cool the primary heat exchanger in place of a complete power conversion system has very similar requirements regardless of the primary heat transfer fluid. In order to avoid duplicative efforts, this project will design, assemble, perform acceptance testing, and deploy a single sCO₂ coolant system design meeting the needs of any Gen3CSP topic 1 pathway pilot plant design.