Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Thermodynamic and economic analyses of the retrofit of existing electric power plants with fusion reactors |
| Authors: |
Francesca R. Famà, Victor Prost, Giuseppe Calabrò, Francesco A. Volpe, Stefano Ubertini, Andrea L. Facci |
| Source: |
Energy Conversion and Management: X, Vol 23, Iss , Pp 100668- (2024) |
| Publisher Information: |
Elsevier, 2024. |
| Publication Year: |
2024 |
| Collection: |
LCC:Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) |
| Subject Terms: |
Fusion energy, Stellarator, Techno economic analysis, Baseload power-plant, Net zero emission electricity generation, Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General), TA1-2040 |
| More Details: |
Electricity generation will need to reach net zero emissions globally in 2050. This will require an increase in share of renewable energy and the implementation of a controllable carbon-free base-load source. Nuclear fusion is a promising option to decarbonize base-load electricity production but its capital cost still doubles the one of technologically more mature alternatives such as large photovoltaic fields or off-shore wind installations. Within this framework, the retrofit of a dismissed power-plant could allow significant cost savings, thus facilitating the realization of a fusion electricity demonstrator. Among fusion reactors, stellarators are a valid alternative to tokamaks thanks to the higher blanket temperature and inherent continuous operation. In this scenario, we posit the challenge to use a nuclear fusion stellarator-based reactor to retrofit conventional power plants (PPs). Specifically, we select a nuclear fission plant in France and a supercritical coal fired site in Italy, by constructing 4 different retrofit scenarios as a function of the re-used components. We compare each option with a greenfield and optimized plant with the same reactor thermal power. through a thermodynamic, economic, and investment analysis.The results proves significant savings by retrofitting an existing plant, with a CapEx reduction up to 50% compared to the greenfield plants. Specifically, the most convenient retrofit strategy is to select a site that already implements cutting edge thermodynamic parameters while reusing the most existing systems (i.e. buildings, steam cycle, electricity generation, and heat rejection). This is the case of the 2 x 660 MWe supercritical coal-fired plant in Italy. Therein, the LCOEs are 39 $/MWh and 51 $/MWh, calculated with an interest rate of 2.7% and 6%, respectively, and compare with the conventional energy technologies. Moreover, such costs are competitive in the current European energy markets and yield significant net present values at the plant end of life. |
| Document Type: |
article |
| File Description: |
electronic resource |
| Language: |
English |
| ISSN: |
2590-1745 |
| Relation: |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174524001466; https://doaj.org/toc/2590-1745 |
| DOI: |
10.1016/j.ecmx.2024.100668 |
| Access URL: |
https://doaj.org/article/87d7fcf7866d4552aa2d0bd7700f54cc |
| Accession Number: |
edsdoj.87d7fcf7866d4552aa2d0bd7700f54cc |
| Database: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |
