Abstract
The use of solar energy for power generation using the innovative solar chimney concept has been explored by many researchers mostly with the help of analytical models as well as CFD simulations while experimental studies for a pilot and bench scale facilities have been carried out. The efficiencies of these chimneys, however, are less than 1% (~0.07% for 50 kW pilot plant similar to Manzanares plant in Spain). In the present study, an effort has been made to make modifications in the chimney design to improve the efficiency of the chimney in terms of power generation. CFD simulations have been carried out for this modified design and the efficiency is seen to improve to 0.12% for a 50 kW chimney. Furthermore, a techno-economic feasibility analysis has been carried out for a conventional 5 MW solar power plant which can be installed on the western part of India, which receives good solar irradiation throughout the year. Two cases with and without government subsidies have been considered. It is observed that a high rate of return (~20.4%) is obtained for a selling price of electricity of Rs 5 per kWh with government subsidy, while a rate of return of ~19% is obtained for Rs 10 per kWh without government subsidy.
Highlights
Solar energy as a form of renewable energy has become more widespread in the last few years in countries such as India due to the huge lands being used for making solar parks in places where there is sunlight throughout the year
The Conventional Solar Chimney Power Plant (CSCPP)/Configuration I has been validated with the temperature profile of the prototype presented by various researchers [6,26,48,49]
The temperature profiles were compared with different models for the same geometry in the literature and a good agreement was seen with the model of Ming et al [49]
Summary
Solar energy as a form of renewable energy has become more widespread in the last few years in countries such as India due to the huge lands being used for making solar parks in places where there is sunlight throughout the year. Are used to generate electricity across the globe. The land being used is barren land. A viable option is energy being produced along with cultivation occurring on the land. This can be achieved using the concept of a solar chimney. The solar chimney has been an area of research for a few decades, since Schlaich [1] and co-workers designed, constructed and operated the first Solar Chimney Power Plant (SCPP)
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