Renewable sources of thermal energy have been used to generate electricity in power plants using power cycles similar to those described in Chapters 5 and 6, although with some modifications to make them compatible for the intermediate- and lower-temperature heat sources. These renewable sources include geothermal energy and concentrated solar thermal energy. The power cycles used for these two types will be discussed in this chapter, starting with general guidelines regarding how to maintain the cycle efficiency as high as possible while using lower-temperature heat sources. For instance, using different working fluids in Rankine cycles can improve the efficiency by operating the cycle as a supercritical cycle even though the source temperature is relatively low.
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