Abstract
In Pakistan, the utilization of renewable energy sources is increasing in order to reduce the electricity supply and demand gap. However, concentrated solar power (CSP) generation has not been considered in the country even though it has gained considerable attention worldwide. This study, as such, investigates the potential, performance, and economic analyses of four CSP technologies for different locations in Pakistan. Initially, an assessment of CSP sites, including solar resource, land, and water availability, was undertaken. Then, performance simulations of CSP technologies for four different locations of Pakistan, namely Quetta, Hyderabad, Multan, and Peshawar, were examined. For all cases, highest energy production was achieved in summers and lowest in winters, and CSP plants with evaporative cooling were found to be efficient compared to air cooling. The results also revealed that the Quetta and Hyderabad regions were promising for CSP development while parabolic tough (PT) and solar power tower (SPT) were the suitable CSP technologies for these regions. Specifically, the SPT plant with air cooling could be a favorable option for energy production in Quetta. Lastly, economic analyses revealed the financial feasibility of CSP plants in Pakistan since the levelized cost of energy is found to be significantly low.
Highlights
Nowadays, energy in the form of electricity is considered to be an essential component of modern life across the globe
System Advisor Model (SAM) software is developed and provided by the national renewable energy laboratory (NREL), which is operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, for the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) and may be used for any purpose whatsoever [28]
SAM can be used to simulate the techno-economic evaluations of different renewable energy sources, including concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies [28]
Summary
Energy in the form of electricity is considered to be an essential component of modern life across the globe. In Pakistan, the electricity outage ranges from 8–10 h in an urban area while up to 18 h in rural areas [1]. The reason behind these outages is the gap between demand and supply. The demand for electricity in the country is increasing with the increasing population and urbanization; supply is 20%–25% short [2]. The major reason behind a low energy supply is the great dependency on fossil fuels, which are limited and depleting. In Pakistan, 87.3% of the primary energy supply is based on fossil fuels; gas (37.9%) and oil (34.4%) have the highest share in the total primary energy supply by the end of 2016 [3]. Pakistan is blessed with renewable energy sources such as wind, biomass, and solar, share of renewable energy sources in energy production is almost
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