scholarly journals Design of a 25 MWe Solar Thermal Power Plant in Iran with Using Parabolic Trough Collectors and a Two-Tank Molten Salt Storage System

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidin Alinezhad Kordmahaleh ◽  
Mohammad Naghashzadegan ◽  
Kourosh Javaherdeh ◽  
Mohammadreza Khoshgoftar

Nowadays, parabolic trough solar thermal plants are prevalent around the world. In different areas concerning the amount of solar radiation, their standard size is approximately between 20 and 100 MWe. Certainly, the right size of the solar field is the first selection with regard to nominal electrical power. A vast area will be economically unreasonable whereas a small area will mainly cause the power plant to operate at the part-load condition. This paper presents an economic modeling of a solar parabolic trough plant, operating at 25 MWe in Yazd, Iran. The varying types of collector dimensions have been investigated; then, by selecting autumnal equinox (22 September) at 12:00 PM as the design point, thermal performance of the solar power plant has been featured annually, in all conditions. The total operating time of the power plant is about 1726 hours (1248 hours in full-load condition). In the end, the effect of thermal storage tanks has been analyzed to save extra solar heat and use it at nights in hot months. By implementing a storage system, the total operating time will be increased to 3169 hours (2785 in full-load condition). Moreover, 7974 GJ useful thermal energy can be obtained from the solar field and storage system.

Author(s):  
Khamid Mahkamov ◽  
Piero Pili ◽  
Roberto Manca ◽  
Arthur Leroux ◽  
Andre Charles Mintsa ◽  
...  

The small solar thermal power plant is being developed with funding from EU Horizon 2020 Program. The plant is configured around a 2-kWel Organic Rankine Cycle turbine and solar field, made of Fresnel mirrors. The solar field is used to heat thermal oil to the temperature of about 240 °C. This thermal energy is used to run the Organic Rankine Cycle turbine and the heat rejected in its condenser (about 18-kWth) is utilized for hot water production and living space heating. The plant is equipped with a latent heat thermal storage to extend its operation by about 4 hours during the evening building occupancy period. The phase change material used is Solar salt with the melting/solidification point at about 220 °C. The total mass of the PCM is about 3,800 kg and the thermal storage capacity is about 100 kWh. The operation of the plant is monitored by a central controller unit. The main components of the plant are being manufactured and laboratory tested with the aim to assemble the plant at the demonstration site, located in Catalonia, Spain. At the first stage of investigations the ORC turbine will be directly integrated with the solar filed to evaluate their joint performance. During the second stage of tests, the Latent Heat Thermal Storage will be incorporated into the plant and its performance during the charging and discharging processes will be investigated. It is planned that the continuous filed tests of the whole plant will be performed during the 2018–2019 period.


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