An integrated system for producing electricity and fresh water from a new gas-fired power plant and a concentrated solar power plant – Case study – (Australia, Spain, South Korea, Iran)

Abstract

In this study, a novel power plant configuration consisting of a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant integrated into a Brayton cycle prior to the combustion chamber was examined. In addition, at the gas turbine outlet, the coupled steam Rankine cycle (SRC) and organic Rankine cycle (ORC) were incorporated to enhance efficiency and power generation. Currently, gas-fired power plants generally use a single Brayton cycle to generate power, resulting in significant energy loss. In this study, a thermoelectric generator was employed to mitigate such energy losses. Thermoelectric generators are currently used to generate additional power, despite their higher costs. To optimize the use of the proposed system, the heat of the second gas turbine was exploited to desalinate saltwater in a multi-effect distillation (MED) unit. The proposed system is appropriate for hot coastal climates. The Brayton cycle was validated based on observational data from a power plant on the Persian Gulf shores (the Khorramshahr gas-fired power plant). Climatic parameters have a significant effect on power generation cycles. This study explores the effects of irradiance, wind speed, and ambient temperature on the proposed system in four hot coastal regions. These results could be very useful for investors and local governments in such regions. Among the most important effective and practical parameters in this study, we should mention gas turbine efficiency, inlet temperature to the organic turbine, inlet pressure to the steam turbine, and inlet temperature to the gas turbine. The exergy analysis of the system showed that the most exergy destruction is related to the combustion chamber, heliostat, solar receiver, multi-effect desalination, gas turbine 1, and thermoelectric respectively. The total production power in this system was 190.7 megawatts and the exergy loss of the entire system was reported as 47.73-megawatt hours. The economic analysis of the system showed that compressor and gas turbine 1 respectively have the highest cost rate in the proposed system, and the cost rate of electricity produced by the proposed system was $2288 per hour.The results showed that the best performance of the system is obtained in the weather conditions of Busan, Melbourne, Barcelona, and Bandar Abbas respectively.