Where to harvest solar energy in Iran? A geographic information system (GIS) analysis for supporting the siting of photovoltaic (PV) parks and concentrating solar power (CSP) plants

PV–Enhanced Solar Thermal Power

Under the background of increasing greenhouse effect and decreasing fossil energy, renewable energy power generation has been drawn increasing attention by almost all countries in the world, and especially the solar thermal power generation has received much attention in recent years. As a solar energy utilization pattern different from the photovoltaic power generation, the solar thermal power generation has the advantages such as higher stability and larger scale that other kinds of renewable energy power generations do not have. However, for the current solar thermal power plants, the higher cost of the initial construction and lower concentration efficiency have become obstacles to its advancement in the power generation industry. As a crucial subsystem of the solar thermal power plants, the heliostat subsystem not only occupies nearly half of the cost of the solar thermal power plants, but also directly determines the concentration efficiency of the solar thermal power plants. Therefore, how to reduce the cost of the heliostat field, and distribute and control the heliostat at the same time, so that it can accurately and effectively track the sun in real time, which is one of most important problems. In this paper, a summarize of the current researches on the methods for improving power generation efficiency is given for the heliostat part of the solar tower thermal power plants.

The sizing of solar energy power plants is usually made using typical meteorological years, which disregards the inter-annual variability of the solar resource. Nevertheless, such variability is crucial for the bankability of these projects because it impacts on the production goals set at the time of the supply agreement. For that reason, this study aims to fill the gap in the existing literature and analyse the impact that solar resource variability has on solar power plant production as applied to the case of Portugal (southern Europe). To that end, 17 years (2003–2019) of meteorological data from a network of 90 ground stations hosted by the Portuguese Meteorological Service is examined. Annual capacity factor regarding photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) plants is computed using the System Advisor Model, used here for solar power performance simulations. In terms of results, while a long-term trend for increase in annual irradiation is found for Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) and Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI), 0.4148 and 3.2711 kWh/m2/year, respectively, consistent with a solar brightening period, no corresponding trend is found for PV or CSP production. The latter is attributed to the long-term upward trend of 0.0231 °C/year in annual average ambient temperature, which contributes to PV and CSP efficiency reduction. Spatial analysis of inter-annual relative variability for GHI and DNI shows a reduction in variability from the north to the south of the country, as well as for the respective power plant productions. Particularly, for PV, inter-annual variability ranges between 2.45% and 12.07% in Faro and Santarém, respectively, while higher values are generally found for CSP, 3.71% in Faro and 16.04% in São Pedro de Moel. These results are a contribution to future instalments of PV and CSP systems in southern Portugal, a region with very favourable conditions for solar energy harvesting, due to the combination of high production capacity and low inter-annual variability.

Development of CSP Plants in Wallacea Region: Solar Intensity Resource Assessment and CSP Plant Design Specification

A GIS-based multi-criteria decision making method for the potential assessment and suitable sites selection of PV and CSP plants

With a globally growing solar industry and ongoing climate change, impacts of anthropogenic green house gas emissions on solar power production become an increasingly important issue for planning and management of large solar power plants. Objective of this thesis is to examine the development of solar power output for photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) in coming decades. For this purpose, changes in surface temperature, aerosol optical depth, cloud cover, all sky and clear sky radiation between 2006 and 2049 will be studied globally and for selected regions. Projected climate data was obtained from 39 coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models which are part of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) as well as from the global circulation model ECHAM5-HAM. Results gained in this study are valid for a Representative Concentration Pathway of 8.5 (RCP8.5), which assumes high radiative forcing. Statistically significant results show decreasing PV outputs in most parts of the world, notable positive trends are observed in large parts of Europe and the South-East of China. Trends between 2006 and 2049 are in the order of 0.1 %/year. CSP output shows positive trends worldwide, with few exceptions such as polar regions and the North of India. Compared to PV, CSP shows larger trends by a factor of 4. Content 1. Background 4 1.

Most of the renewables particularly Solar PV are intermittent. For this, dispatchable energy sources are required in the energy mix. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is dispatchable in nature. The aim of this work is to conduct the feasibility study of Parabolic Trough, Power Tower and Solar PV plant (with and without battery storage) and compare their performances. As south-east part of Bangladesh has better solar potential, four locations of Chittagong (Bashkhali, Sandwip, Maheshkhali, and Vashan Char) are taken as reference places. During evaluating the feasibility study, various ratings of power plants like 200MW, 150MW, 100MW, 50MW, 25MW, 5MW have been considered. Finally, optimization has been conducted with respect to Solar Multiple (SM) and Thermal Energy Storage (TES). System Advisor Model (SAM) has been used to perform the simulation work. Optimized results of CSP plants have been compared with the same MW grid-connected PV power plants. Results show that Solar PV plant has better performance compared with CSP. Among the four locations, BASHKHALI is the best for implementing solar power plants.

Design and comparative analysis of photovoltaic and parabolic trough based CSP plants

Solar Energy Potential and Performance Assessment of CSP Plants in Different Areas of Iran

Performance assessment and optimization of concentrated solar power plants with paired metal hydride-based thermochemical energy storage

Assessing the solar energy potential in the MENA/Mediterranean regions is of paramount importance, especially considering the environmental and economic benefits of solar energy sources. By examining the potential specific to these regions, we can provide valuable insights into the feasibility and potential for solar energy development, contributing to the overall renewable energy assessment and development. This research provides a granular assessment of solar energy potential across the MENA and Mediterranean regions by developing a solar potential zoning framework based on advanced clustering techniques applied to NASA POWER data. Our analysis of Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) delineated eight distinct zones, revealing a significant spatial gradient in solar resource availability. Annual average GHI values range from 4.57 kWh/m 2 /day in Zone 4 to 6.46 kWh/m 2 /day in Zone 8. These GHI levels correspond to photovoltaic (PV) specific yields of 1,334 kWh/kWp/year and 1,886 kWh/kWp/year, respectively, with high-potential zones (2, 3, 6, and 8) exhibiting yields above 1,730 kWh/kWp/year, highlighting their economic attractiveness for PV deployment. Analysis of Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) identified nine zones, with the highest DNI levels observed in Zones 4, 1, and 8, exceeding 6.3 kWh/m 2 /day, which are particularly suitable for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technologies, offering annual generation per unit area up to 31% higher than lower DNI regions. The developed zoning maps and quantitative findings for strategic planning, guiding investment and policy towards maximizing solar energy adoption and contributing to the region's energy security and sustainability goals.

Integrated CSP-PV hybrid solar power plant for two cities in Saudi Arabia

The paper presents energy–exergy–economic–environment–ethics analysis of a concentrated solar thermal power plant. Design basis of a concentrated solar power for 24 h operation on parabolic trough collector technology in best suited direct normal irradiation location and least capital cost analysis has been presented. An unconventional approach of reducing the capital cost is analyzed by intentionally designing the power plant for sub-critical conditions using a low-cost mineral oil with permissible operating temperature of 320°C in place of the conventional synthetic solar grade oil of 400°C. Using low pressure and temperature steam in the plant, it has been shown that while there is a reduction of 0.1% in energetic efficiency, there is a gain of 0.28% in the exergetic efficiency of the solar power plant conditions, gross thermal efficiency decreases by 1.18% and the net thermal efficiency decreases by 2.91%. However, the energetic and exergetic utilization factor for heat transfer fluid is increased by 0.84 and 5.58%, respectively. By suitably adjusting the solar field configuration and inlet oil temperature, energy savings to the tune of 45% is possible apart from 2.5 times of cost saving. An attempt has been made to quantifiably assess the ethics of switching to renewable electricity through shared responsibility as a novelty in the study. The payback period for the investment has also been shown to reduce from 20 years to 5 years assuming that the carbon price increases, concentrated solar power cost comes down by 25%, and cost at which electricity can be sold increases to US $0.14 (Rs. 10) per unit.

In this study, energy production by two solar energy technologies, namely concentrated solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) power, is compared from a technical, economic and environmental perspective. Initially, a 50 MW CSP plant is modeled and simulated at four selected sites in Pakistan. Then, the most feasible location of the CSP plant is compared with the solar PV plant of the same capacity. The effect of the solar thermal storage size and cooling system of the CSP system is investigated, while the photovoltaic tracking system is investigated to evaluate the technical and economic performance of the power plants. Technical performance is evaluated based on energy generation and capacity factors metrics, while economic performance is evaluated with respect to levelized cost, payback period and net present value. In addition, environmental criteria such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), saving fossil fuels, and life-cycle water consumption are evaluated. From the results, it was concluded that the CSP plant located in Quetta is technically and economically viable. The capacity factor of the CSP plant is 36.6% compared to 19.8% for the PV plant, while the solar-to-electrical efficiency of the CSP plant is 14.2% compared to 20.8% for the PV plant. The required land area is 2.77 acres/GWh for the CSP plant and 2.33 acres/GWh for the PV plant, while the net capital cost of the CSP plant is five times higher than that of the PV plant. Various design parameters are optimized to obtain the minimum levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for both CSP and PV plants. The results of CSP and PV plants indicate that the LCOE can be reduced to 11.57 cents/kWh and 4.69 cents/kWh, respectively. Thus, the CSP plant performs better from the technical point of view while the PV plant performs better from the economic perspective.

R2198 Genomic diversity of Leishmania parasites isolated by RAPD-PCR