Modelling and simulation of Concentrated Solar Power Plant in Ber’Alganam area (Azzawia-Libya)

Abstract

This paper aims to conduct modeling and simulation of a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Plant in Ber’Alganam area (Azzawia-Libya). The thermal analysis of the solar power plant was carried out to identify its characteristics and present the monthly power curves according to measured solar radiation and meteorological data of Ber’Alganam (Azzawia-Libya). The mathematical model of the plant was based on energy balance of each component used to develop the simulation tool using Matlab software. The simulation tool can be used to simulate the solar plant and achieve desired plots and results. Among many techniques used in the field of solar power generation, the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology using Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) or (PT) has been selected. As a sample case, a 30 MW CSP plant was proposed to present the hourly performance and productivity through entire year. The study offered a description of two more technologies; thermal energy storage (TES) and backup boiler in order to enhance and stabilize the CSP plant and the continuous production throughout daytime and estimate the amount of fuel needed for this issue, the results shows, the annual power output by both solar source, TES system, and the backup boiler are 91513, 318.36, and 4690.45 MWh/year, respectively, with respect the solar multiplier is 1.5. The study also concerned with the amount of emissions avoided by using CSP plants, the study estimated that, 18516.4 tons of emissions could be annually avoided by CSP plant rather than conventional plant that uses a natural gas as the energy source. The results demonstrate that, the Ber’Alganam is a good location to construct CSP plants, according to the productivity indicators.