Comparison among Three Groups of Solar Thermal Power Stations by Data Envelopment Analysis
Comparison among Three Groups of Solar Thermal Power Stations by Data Envelopment Analysis
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DOI：
10.3390/en12132454
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发表时间：
2019-06
期刊：
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
T. Sueyoshi;M. Goto
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
T. Sueyoshi;M. Goto
为了改变能源消耗日益增长的趋势，许多国家都转向了太阳能热能作为解决方案。在没有温室气体排放的情况下，太阳能热电站可能会在能源行业发挥至关重要的作用，因为它们有可能每天24小时发电。这项研究的目的是从世界上三个地区(即美国、西班牙和其他国家)选择太阳能热电站，并确定哪个地区最有效地生产太阳能热能。为了衡量它们的效率，我们使用数据包络分析作为一种方法来检查这些发电站的性能。我们的经验结果表明，美国目前建设的太阳能热电站效率最高。研究还发现，抛物线槽技术的性能略高于其他两种技术(即定日镜功率塔和线性菲涅耳反射器)，但没有达到统计意义上的水平。除了建议的效率评估外，我们亦加入了一项新方法，以找出可能存在的挤塞情况。拥堵现象可分为基于输出和基于输入的两种情况。基于输出的阻塞意味着电网中发电和终端用户之间的容量限制(例如，传输、电压控制和调度方面的困难)。当发电机使用“无法控制的输入”(例如，日照时间)时，就会发生基于输入的拥堵。可再生能源，如太阳能热电，对我们未来的可持续性确实很重要。然而，这需要对发电和输电进行绩效评估，通过这些发电和输电将可再生能源产生的电力输送给最终用户。这种全面的评估，包括效率测量和拥堵识别，是评估和规划可再生能源发电的主要组成部分。
To change an increasing trend of energy consumption, many counties have turned to solar thermal energy as a solution. Without greenhouse gas emissions, solar thermal power stations may play a vital role in the energy industry because they have a potential to produce electricity for 24 h per day. The goal of this study is to select solar thermal power stations from three regions (i.e., the United States, Spain and the other nations) throughout the world and to identify which region most efficiently produces solar thermal power energy. To measure their efficiencies, we use data envelopment analysis as a method to examine the performance of these power stations. Our empirical results show that the United States currently fields the most efficient solar thermal power stations. This study also finds that parabolic trough technology slightly outperforms the other two technologies (i.e., heliostat power tower and linear Fresnel reflector), but not at the level of statistical significance. In addition to the proposed efficiency assessment, we incorporate a new way of finding a possible existence of congestion. The phenomenon of congestion is separated into output-based and input-based occurrences. Output-based congestion implies a capacity limit (e.g., difficulties in transmission, voltage control and dispatch scheduling) in a grid network between generation and end users. Input-based congestion occurs when generators use “uncontrollable inputs” (e.g., sunlight hours). Renewable energy sources, such as solar thermal power, are indeed important for our future sustainability. However, this needs performance assessment on generation and transmission through which electricity generated by renewable energy is conveyed to end users. Such a holistic assessment, including both efficiency measurement and congestion identification, serves as a major component in evaluating and planning renewable energy generation.