A case study on combined cycle power plant integrated with solar energy in Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

Aim of the paper is to evaluate the benefit of a renewable energy initiative for Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago have abundant natural gas, a highly developed power generation system almost entirely based on combustion fuels, high solar irradiation, but skies often covered by clouds, a detrimental factor for concentrated solar power technologies. The simple, consolidated, parabolic trough technology, without the addition of thermal energy storage, has the potential to deliver better than solar photovoltaic capacity factors at a comparable cost when mass produced. Integration with natural gas combustion may permit to address the issues of clouds coverage. A computational analysis is proposed for an Integrated Solar Combined Cycle power plant comprising a reference combined cycle gas turbine plant, and a small solar field, located in Trinidad and Tobago. The simulations demonstrate the advantages, in terms of fuel conversion efficiency, of the small solar field addition. On average over the year, the plant operates over the morning and afternoon periods, of length about 8 h a day, at an efficiency of 57.34%, about 2.58% better, and over the mid-day periods, of length about 4 h a day, at an efficiency of 57.97%, about 3.16% better.