Multidimensional analysis for the techno-economic study of the CSP plant

Abstract

The profitability of a concentrated solar plant depends on the type of storage system and its daily operation. In addition, this profitability can be evaluated using different economical criteria such as the minimum time to recover the initial investment, the total profit at the end of the project and others. Given a solar field and a power block, the objective in this work is to determine an optimal design of the storage system for the concentrated solar plant. Two types of storage technology are considered, namely Thermochemical reactor or Two-tank molten salt system, two different production strategies, four different economical criteria and three price scenarios for the electricity market. And for each such combination (called profile), the model determines the optimal design of the concentrated solar plant. But, contrary to classical economical evaluation in literature, in this approach an optimal design consists of the optimal values of the physical design of the storage system but also the optimal operations of the plant (Production, Storage, Discharge). Thanks to this model and the results obtained, conditions can be exhibited under which thermochemical storage is economically more pertinent than Two-tank storage and also situations ensuring an economical equilibrium of the concentrated solar plant without subsidy.