Economic analysis of a large scale solar updraft tower power plant

Abstract

This research article provides an economic analysis of a large-scale solar updraft tower power plant (SUTPP) having 100 MW capacity and installed in Udat, Rajasthan, India, with position coordinates of 27° 35′ and 72° 43′ for meteorological conditions. A cost model developed for optimized parametric values, received from thermal and dimensional optimization of previous study, to analyse the optimized cost of electricity generation and revenue analysis with the consideration of electricity selling, carbon credits, and the levelized electricity cost. The results of the analysis suggest that the proposed plant has a higher capital and operating cost than photovoltaic and wind energy, but it also has a lower levelized cost of electricity generation. As, for a fixed power output, the optimized cost of electricity generation is inversely proportional to Rcollector and Rtower, and obtained an optimum value between ₹9.16 to ₹10.57 for power plants ranging from 100 MW to 200 MW. The results also show that the cost of construction of such a power plant largely depends on plant configuration and can lie between ₹4.5cr. to ₹12cr. per MW, which indicates that a large-scale SUTPP can be installed economically. Although the optimum values of optimized cost of electricity generation came with larger dimensional values of the power plant, that also create challenges during the construction and operation of the power plant. Based on these findings, the authors conclude that, with proper subsidies and support, a large-scale SUTPP can be considered a promising renewable energy technology for power generation.