Hybrid geo-solar binary power plant supply curve analysis

This analysis evaluated a hybrid geo-solar air-cooled supercritical binary cycle power plant configuration for selected scenarios defined in the GeoVision Study. General benefits of hybrid geo-solar technology include the ability to decrease the risks and mitigate impacts associated with geothermal resource productivity decline. Hybrid geo-solar power plants also improve the temporal correlation between generation and load. Use of geo-solar hybrid plants could therefore largely defend against the economic penalties that would otherwise be associated with air-cooled geothermal power generation in a time-of-delivery electricity pricing market. This analysis indicates that hybrid geo-solar technology generally provides the greatest reductions in LCOE when paired with low-temperature geothermal resources (where costs of stand-alone geothermal power generation tend to be highest). If the costs of solar collectors can be reduced to the targets set by DOE and the concentrating solar power industry, hybrid geosolar technology will allow LCOE reductions in locations with good solar resource and where stand-alone geothermal power generation costs are moderate (∼$0.10/kWh) to high ($0.15/kWh). For all geothermal resource types evaluated, there is a threshold LCOE where a geothermal industry that utilizes hybrid geo-solar plants would be able to provide increased capacity at an equal or lower LCOE than a geothermal industry comprised solely of stand-alone geothermal plants.