Effect of solar utility temperature to costing and design parameters of integrated solar thermal system

Abstract

The objective of this research is to evaluate the trade-off between solar utility temperature and solar collector efficiency, in the context of Malaysia, and also evaluating the proposed system efficiency and economic feasibility. Since Malaysia receives an abundance amount of solar radiation throughout the year, generating thermal energy from solar thermal energy system is highly attractive. In the illustrative case study, flat plate collector (FPC) and compound parabolic collector (CPC) were used for evaluation of integration with different temperature process. For each process, configuration with and without HEX were evaluated. Generally, solar collector cost for configuration with HEX is more than configuration without HEX, solar collector cost will be lower when solar utility temperature is lower, and effect of solar utility temperature variation affect more on FPC than on CPC. The results show that annual saving is 174,952 MYR/y. The payback period for all processes vary from 4.7 to 7.6 y.