HOME / analysis of a solar assisted crude oil refinery system
A study performed by the European Commission has shown that between 30% and 50% of electricity used for lighting could be saved by investing in energy-efficient lighting systems . In Spain, in some municipalities, the consumption of energy in public lighting reaches up to 80% of the total electricity consumption.
The project is different from conventional street lighting systems not only in the sense that it uses solar energy, but more importantly, it is also a stand alone device that provides for an efficient energy management program that ensures effective maintenance and reduced energy wastage due to malfunctioning lighting controls.
A total 88% of the subjects consider a sustainable and adequate solution to renew the installation of urban lighting, and that the new installation is powered exclusively by PV energy. At first glance, there are no relevant differences considering different segments of ages.
In general, most subjects of all age segments are aware of the problem that means having aerial wiring running at facades (95%) and considers the use of PV in urban lighting sustainable (88%). However, 47% of those surveyed consider that shutdowns due to lack of energy harvesting is problematic and 17% consider this very problematic.
These benchmarks help measure progress toward goals for reducing solar electricity costs and guide SETO research and development programs. Read more to find out how these cost benchmarks are modeled and download the data and cost modeling program below.
Feldman, David, Vignesh Ramasamy, Ran Fu, Ashwin Ramdas, Jal Desai, and Robert Margolis. 2021. U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System Cost Benchmark: Q1 2020. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL/TP-6A20-77324.
Ramasamy, Vignesh, Jarett Zuboy, Michael Woodhouse, Eric O'Shaughnessy, David Feldman, Jal Desai, Andy Walker, Robert Margolis, and Paul Basore. 2023. U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System and Energy Storage Cost Benchmarks, With Minimum Sustainable Price Analysis: Q1 2023. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
This translates to a range of $2.06– $12.37/kW/year, and a benchmark value of $3.44/kW/yr. for a 200-kW commercial rooftop system and $1.17–$7.02/kW/year, and a benchmark value of $1.95/kW/yr. for a 100 MW utility-scale single-axis tracking system.
Using TRNSYS software, the proposed Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC)-based solar heating system paired with the boiler is modelled. Sensible thermal energy storage (TES) system is integrated into the refinery's process heating to handle the intermittent nature of solar energy.
Conclusion The present study investigates the feasibility of solar hybrid system to generate steam in the oil refinery to maintain the temperature of heavy crude oil products before despatching from storage tanks. Due to the intermittent behaviour of solar energy, the solar hybrid system is integrated with a sensible heat storage tank.
Other studies in the literature considered coupling solar energy systems to oil refineries to decarbonize their operation. The applicability and feasibility of introducing a concentrated solar power (CSP) system to reduce partial reliance on process heaters of a crude oil refinery was studied by Danish et al. .
The amount of fuel and cost savings by the integration of a solar hybrid system into the refinery and the payback period of the system by using different types of fuel in the furnace are shown in Table 6. Table 6. Payback period of the proposed system by using different fuel.
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