Heliostat Field Research Articles

Receiver with light-trapping nanostructured coating: A possible way to achieve high-efficiency solar thermal conversion for the next-generation concentrating solar power

To improve the receiver's solar-thermal conversion efficiency at high temperature for the next-generation concentrating solar power (CSP), a receiver with the light-trapping nanostructured coating is proposed herein. However, for the CSP plant with the light-trapping nanostructure coated receiver, the scale of the heliostat field is on the order of meters (∼10m), the solar receiver tube on the order of millimeters (∼10 mm), and the light-trapping coating on the order of nanometers (∼100 nm). The whole system spans nine orders of magnitude, which makes it extremely complicated and difficult to evaluate the receiver's optical and thermal performance. To solve this problem, a multi-scale model is proposed by combining Monte Carol Ray tracing method (MCRT), finite difference time domain (FDTD) method, and finite volume method (FVM). Then, the influences of three typical light-trapping nanostructured coatings, including pyramid nanostructure, moth-eye nanostructure, and cone nanostructure, on the receiver's optical-thermal performance are studied. Among these three typical nanostructures, the cone nanostructure can maximize the receiver's optical-thermal performance, with a receiver efficiency more than 88%, which is higher than that of the commercial Pyromark2500 coating by 6–10% points. The study demonstrates that the receiver with light-trapping nanostructured coatings can achieve high receiver efficiency for the next-generation CSP.

Preliminary design and assessment of concentrated solar power plant using supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycles

In pursuit of efficient renewable electricity generation at a utility scale, concentrating solar power using receiver tower and heliostat field is one of the most prominent technologies due to its high achievable temperatures and environmental impact reduction. To increase the operating performance of this technology, innovative approaches have been focused on the heliostat field, thermal energy storage, and the integrated power cycle. Brayton cycles using supercritical carbon dioxide have emerged as an alternative to the traditional Rankine cycle for their compactness and superior performance even at extreme climate temperatures. In this work, a suite of code is developed to calculate expressively influencing parameters of the central receiver system, such as the exhaustive design of heliostat field pattern, characteristics angles, optical efficiency, and thermal energy storage, coupled with two Brayton cycle configurations. The seasonal effect on the performance of solar power plants is presented at different climatic conditions in terms of net power generation and cycle efficiency using the daily meteorological data. The year-round performance is assessed by statistically distributing the historical air temperature data into four categories. The proposed systems operate continually for 24 h with heat transfer fluid following a sinusoidal curved movement between the solar receiver and storage tanks. The findings demonstrate that the efficiency of the coupled system is higher with recompression cycle configuration while the fluctuation range is 39% to 45%. The computed mean net power output is 37.17 MW and 39.04 MW using regenerative and recompression cycles, respectively. The developed exhaustive methodology and computed results are of significance for future employment of supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle for concentrated solar power plants.

Investigation of a green energy storage system based on liquid air energy storage (LAES) and high-temperature concentrated solar power (CSP): Energy, exergy, economic, and environmental (4E) assessments, along with a case study for San Diego, US

• A green hybrid system based on liquid air energy storage and concentrated solar power. • A comprehensive and systematic evaluation of the proposed hybrid system. • Achieving round trip energy and exergy efficiencies of 54.05% and 46.51%. • Reaching a payback period of 2.06 years and total profit of 188.7 $M. • Analyzing the system performance based on 8760 hourly real data in San Diego, the USA. Liquid air energy storage, a recently introduced grid-scale energy storage technology, has attracted attention in recent years due to its unique characteristics: geographic location independence, high energy density, broad storage capacities, and fast response time. A green hybrid concept based on a combination of liquid air energy storage with concentrated solar power technology is evaluated through simulations to quantify the improvements in the environmental and operational performance of the system. In lieu of a conventional combustion chamber, a concentrated solar power combined with the heliostat field, cavity receiver, high-temperature molten salt, and thermal energy storage is used. During peak demand times, the system produces about 53.9 MW of power and 55 kg/s domestic hot water. The round-trip energy and exergy efficiencies of the system are 54.05% and 46.51%, respectively. Applying the proposed concept for the case of San Diego with the real hourly data, results in an annual green power generation of around 25 GWh, prevents the release of over 5100 tons of CO 2 , meaning an annual environmental cost reduction by over 122,000 $. The economic analysis show that the payback period and overall profit of the proposed system in this city are 2.42 years and 137.4 $M, respectively.

Thermo-economic analysis of a particle-based multi-tower solar power plant using unfired combined cycle for evening peak power generation

This work analyses a 150 MWe multi-tower solar-only combined cycle power plant (nominal efficiency ∼50%) for evening peak operation. Olivine particles are used as heat transfer fluid and thermal energy storage medium based on their suitable thermo-physical properties for high temperature operation. Technical constraints to handle hot particles lead to an integration of the power block and thermal storage system with an array of heliostat fields (with a solar receiver per field). Unitary 53.0 MWth solar tower was designed to satisfy these constrains. Two electricity dispatch strategies covering the evening peak power have been analyzed. Number of solar fields and storage capacity have been optimized from thermo-economic optimization. It is concluded that the best layouts have seven solar towers and storage capacities of 2.0 GWh for the first dispatch scenario (with an electricity generation from 17:00 to 22:00) and eight solar towers with 2.5 GWh for the second one (from 17:00 to 24:00). Solar multiple is between 1.1 and 1.25. These two configurations cover 56.2% and 55.8% of the total energy demand at full power with LCOE of 14.6 c€ kWh−1 and 13.2 c€ kWh−1. A sensitivity analysis on the components costs indicates that 11.0 c€ kWh−1 could be achieved.

Real-time heliostat field aiming strategy optimization based on reinforcement learning

The heliostat field aiming strategy optimization is a crucial topic in solar power tower (SPT) plants. The optimal aiming strategy attempts to maximize the thermal power output while preserving certain operational limits. While existing methods could produce high-optimality results, they cannot be applied to real-time optimization for ultra large scale problems due to high computational complexity. In this work, an effective and scalable optimization method is proposed to achieve real-time optimization for ultra large scale problems, enabling efficient and robust SPT plant operations under varying solar conditions (i.e., cloud shadowing variations). The real-time optimization problem is reformulated as a reinforcement learning problem, capturing the learning from the intrinsic sequential decision-making process, to minimize unnecessary repetitions of computations. A Crescent Dunes-like SPT plant is studied, with the allowable flux density as the optimization constraint, and the results show that the proposed method provides better or comparable performance compared to heuristic optimization methods with an order of magnitude less computation time.

Design, exergy analysis, and optimization of a hydrogen generation/storage energy system with solar heliostat fields and absorption-ejector refrigeration system

In the current work, a solar-based energy plant that includes an organic Rankine cycle, an NH3−LiNO3 operated refrigeration system, reverse osmosis desalination, and hydrogen production device are integrated, modeled, and optimized. A parametric examination is designed with Matlab software to show the impact of varying primary system variables on outputs like system total energy, exergy efficiency, and total exergy output. All processes have been carried out for different working fluids, namely iso-butane, Propane, n-octane, and the results are compared. Parametric analysis reveals that at solar radiation of 800 W/m2, which is reasonable for the sun in most of the Middle East, selecting n-Octane as a working media results in an increase in the hydrogen production rate of about 150%. This also confirms the importance of selecting the right working fluid for the ORC unit. Moreover, the influence of substantial decision variables on the hydrogen production, net out pout power, exergy efficiency indicated that multi-criteria optimization is necessary. The multi-objective optimization strategy suggests the TIP = 1753 kPa, Toil = 99°C, ηistur = 0.9, ηispump = 0.87, and AHeliostat = 2800 m2, for the optimum state of the studied system. Additionally, the scatter distribution and sensitivity analysis for optimum point introduced by multi-criteria optimization utilized for better understanding the optimization process.

Integration of a coal fired power plant with calcium looping CO2 capture and concentrated solar power generation: Energy, exergy and economic analysis

In conventional calcium looping (CaL) CO2 capture process, the heat of calcination is provided by burning additional fuel in the calciner that leads to thermal efficiency drop of the power plant. Coupling of CaL with concentrated solar power (CSP) can supply required heat and improve its drawback. In this study, a CaL-CSP system has been modeled to integrate with a 500 MW coal-fired power plant. Moreover, two steam cycles were designed to effectively recover available heat sources. The performance of the system was evaluated by employing energy, exergy and economic analysis. For CO2 capture efficiency of 93%, the calciner requires 1293 MWth thermal power which was supplied by heliostat field with efficiency of 88.56%. The net electrical efficiency of the overall system and the levelized cost of electricity were determined 33.22% and 120.27 $/MWh respectively. The results showed that the designed system does not impose any thermal efficiency drop on the power plant and its economic performance is competitive with other CO2 capture technologies. The exergy analysis indicated that the calciner side had a lower exergy efficiency (82.61%) in comparison with the carbonator side (88.51%) due to the higher exergy destruction in the calciner reactor and the compression unit.

Design and 3E analysis of a hybrid power plant integrated with a single-effect absorption chiller driven by a heliostat field: A case study for Doha, Qatar

This study suggests a novel zero-emission combined cooling and power (CCP) system using a high-temperature solar field, i.e., heliostat reflectors and a central receiver as the heat supplier of the whole system. In addition to the solar field, the proposed system consists of a hybrid power plant comprising a closed Brayton cycle using helium gas and a Kalina cycle, and a cooling production unit through a single-effect absorption chiller. To ameliorate the technical contribution of the current research work, the system suggested here was considered for a case study in Doha, Qatar. Hence, a comprehensive parametric analysis taking into account the energy, exergy, and exergoeconomic (3E analysis) performance criteria based on crucial design parameters is conducted. Furthermore, the economic feasibility analysis of the system is carried out through appraising the net present value. Regarding the parametric analysis, the 3E criteria evaluated here exhibited more sensitivity to variation in heliostat field efficiency and helium turbine inlet temperature, respectively. Moreover, the baseline design mode demonstrated that the electricity was produced by 15.29 MW, the coefficient of performance (COP) of the cooling production unit was 0.812, and also the overall exergy efficiency and sum unit cost of products were obtained as 29.87% and 4.34 $/GJ, respectively. Likewise, for the electrical unit exergy cost of 0.05 $/kWh and cooling unit exergy cost of 0.08 $/kWh, the calculated net present value and payback period of the suggested system were correspondingly equal to 1.605×107 and 3.1 years.

Daily performance of a solar hybrid regenerative gas turbine in Colombia

This work presents the evolution of the operation of a regenerative hybrid solar gas turbine in an average day of the year. The system is evaluated by means of a thermodynamic model that includes a solar concentrated heliostat field solar concentrator with central receiver, a combustion chamber, and the thermal engine. The model is applied in Barranquilla, Colombia using local temperature and the solar radiation estimated with a theoretical model. Power output, the global efficiency and thermal engine efficiency are estimated. Additionally, to estimate the temperatures in different states of the cycle with and without regenerator. Finally, the impact of the regenerator is evaluated, which can increase the temperature of the solar receiver by up to 13.6%, and the inlet temperature to the combustion chamber increases by 17.3% at noon, when solar radiation is maximum.

Material selection for solar central receiver tubes

The severe operation conditions and great capital investment of solar power tower central receivers motivate the lifetime analysis of a molten-salt external-cylindrical-tubular receiver, considering five alloy alternatives for its tubes manufacturing: Haynes 230, alloy 316H, Inconel 625, 740H and 800H. An analytical low-computational cost methodology is employed, considering the temperature dependence of tube material properties, elastic-plastic stresses/strains and stress relaxation. Thus, creep and fatigue experimental data available in the literature for these alloys are compiled in this work, providing the coefficients required for the methodology followed. A great alloys operation limitation is the film temperature to avoid corrosion issues; the most permissive are H230, 740H and 800H (650 °C), followed by Inconel 625 (630 °C) and 316H (600 °C). This, and the twice the yield strength, is regarded to set the heliostat field aiming strategy as equatorial as possible for each alloy, resulting in great power production divergences: 24% and 65% less for 625 and alloy 316H receivers with respect to the 740H receiver. Then, the lifetime analysis for a clear design day operation, representative of the receiver during ideal operation, is performed. The stress relaxation regard becomes critical for the accurate damage prediction; alloys 316H and 800H show stress reset during operation, not benefitting from a global stress relaxation. Thus, 800H exhibits a poor endurance. For the clear-day assumption, 740H shows the best lifetime and costs/power performance; the levelized cost of alloy of H230, 625 and alloy 316H is 0.01, 0.09 and over 0.25, respectively, with respect to 740H. • Integral analysis of molten salts solar central receivers in different alloys. • The coefficients to characterize creep and fatigue in these alloys are obtained. • Maximum film temperature allowable of each alloy sets a remarkable operation limit. • The stress relaxation without stress reset greatly extends the receiver lifetime. • Levelized cost of alloy metric for comparison by means of costs and energy produced.

Dynamic simulation and performance evaluation of a novel solar heliostat-based alkali metal thermoelectric converter system

Solar tower plants (STPs) can foster reduce toxic emissions and a cleaner environment. Here, to step forward in this advance, this system is employed as a heat source for an alkali metal thermoelectric converter (AMTEC). Thermal energy storage (TES) is applied to stabilize the performance of the hybrid system along with solar irradiation fluctuations. The considered system is investigated on three different days for the humid subtropical climate of Bandar Abbas, Iran. This study's primary outcome and contribution is a novel simulation framework via TRNSYS to predict the performance of the system under fluctuations of solar irradiation at this site. Both TES and STP systems are defined in TRNSYS software as a new component type via utilizing the Fortran program. The effects of various parameters, including the total energy absorbed by the central receiver, the thermal capacity of TES, and the heliostats field area, are investigated on crucial output parameters of the AMTEC. The mass flow rate of the heat transfer fluid at several areas is then studied in different operating conditions. The optimum area for the heliostats (14,500 m2), leading to the highest AMTEC efficiency (18%) is determined, which requests a TES tank volume of 28.13 m3. This system is noticed to have its most remarkable performance in June and July.

A detailed account of calculation of shading and blocking factor of a heliostat field

The shading and blocking factor plays a significant role in the design of a heliostat field. It is the most computationally expensive task during the optimization process of a heliostat field. Over time, different methods have been developed to calculate the extent of the optical losses associated with shading and blocking. This paper focuses on the famous center point projection method and its implementation using Matlab. This work provides detailed procedures from the perspective of programming and simulation of central receiver systems. The underlying assumptions, the algorithm's strengths, and weaknesses are highlighted. The procedure and simulation parameters will help in developing optimization algorithms for designing high-efficiency heliostat fields. A dense radial staggered heliostat field is used for testing the performance of the algorithm. The field efficiency is calculated at different design points. The results show that the shading loss of the field changes with time, whereas there is negligible variation in the blocking loss. The instantaneous shading loss of a dense radial staggered field on December 21, noontime is 2.12%, whereas the blocking loss is 1.52%.

Transient simulation of an atmospheric boundary layer flow past a heliostat using the Scale-Adaptive Simulation turbulence model

Heliostat fields are exposed to changing climatic conditions as they are mostly erected in open environments where the wind naturally features a high unsteadiness at low altitude due to the ground effects. Much of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) content in the open literature is focused on Reynolds–averaged-Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations, which can only predict mean loads. This paper considers an isolated heliostat in worst-case orientation. The drag force is numerically modelled by means of a Scale-Resolving Simulation (SRS) in ANSYS v19. This paper firstly deals with two different methods that generate perturbations at the inlet boundary: the spectral synthesiser and the vortex method. In an empty domain, an atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) profile is modelled based on a wind tunnel experiment. Secondly, the wind tunnel test of a single heliostat model in upright orientation is replicated, aiming to model the mean and peak drag forces. Applicable for highly separated flows, the Scale-Adaptive Simulation (SAS) turbulence model is employed as it is computationally more affordable than a Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) approach. The latter would require a higher grid resolution and a reduced time step size. The SAS showed little but acceptable decay of the inlet profiles whilst achieving lateral homogeneity. The mean and root-mean-square error of the drag force signal showed a deviation with the experiment of 0.04% and 5.8%, respectively, whereas the error on the peak drag forces was around 18%, possibly mostly due to the under-prediction of the turbulent integral length scale at the model location.

Dynamic aiming strategy for central receiver systems

Aiming strategies in central receiver systems search for an optimal assignment between heliostats and aim point on the receiver surface. In this work, we develop an accelerated aiming strategy which can be used for dynamic scenarios such as short-term environmental influences. The strategy bases on the linear formulation of the problem. To achieve a performance close to real-time, we present several accelerations based on carefully chosen methods to reduce the problem size. The performance of different solvers is evaluated and the problem reduction is adjusted according to accuracy, prediction time and computational run-time. The accelerated aiming strategy is applied to central receiver systems with up to 8600 heliostats in a dynamic test scenario with cloud shadows passing over the heliostat field. The accelerated aiming strategy is effective enough to be used as a real-time control strategy.

Multi-objective robust optimization of a solar power tower plant under uncertainty

The optimal design of a molten salt solar power tower (SPT) plant is sensitive to the variations of uncertainties, such as solar radiation, which result in dispersion of the model output. To mitigate the impacts of uncertainties on the thermo-economic performance of SPT plant, this study develops an uncertainty-based multi-objective robust optimization design method for the case of a SPT plant in Sevilla with the expected value (i.e. the average energy cost) and the standard deviation (i.e. the dispersion of the model output) of the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) as the objectives. The Monte Carlo (MC) simulation and simulated annealing (SA) algorithm are combined to solve the robust optimization problem. The results of Pareto frontier indicate that a trade-off is needed through decision-making. The final optimal solution is determined with expectation of LCOE of 23.09 c/kWhe and standard deviation of LCOE of 1.25 c/kWhe. Compared with the deterministic optimal design, the standard deviation of LCOE of the multi-objective robust optimum is reduced by 17.22 %, which turns out to be less sensitive to the uncertainties. Moreover, the Sobol’ global sensitivity analysis results show that the direct solar radiation, heliostat field cost and receiver cost are the most sensitive to LCOE.

A non-intrusive optical approach to characterize heliostats in utility-scale power tower plants: Flight path generation/optimization of unmanned aerial systems

A newly developed in situ non-intrusive optical (NIO) approach has been developed to survey various types of heliostat optical errors for a concentrating solar power (CSP) tower plant. To measure mirror surface slope error, facet canting error, and heliostat tracking error at a sub-milliradian accuracy, NIO requires several reflection images scanned over each individual heliostat. For a utility-scale plant that typically includes more than 10,000 heliostats, an unmanned aerial system (UAS) is crucial for efficient implementation of the NIO method. In this paper, we develop a flight path generation/optimization algorithm to plan more efficient UAS paths to collect NIO data over a utility-scale heliostat field. The algorithm considers NIO data requirements, all potential constraints, optimization within each subfield, and operational flexibility. Case studies are presented to illustrate the feasibility and robustness of the developed flight path algorithm. The path planning algorithm may also find applications elsewhere, such as drone-driven imaging under extreme conditions.

Thermal stress and fatigue damage of central receiver tubes during their preheating

• Transient temperature and thermal stress in tubes of CSP receivers are modelled. • The Vant-Hull algorithm is used to define the incident heat flux during tube preheat. • Large temperature gradients and a stress peak occur in the first 120 s of preheat. • The standard Vant-Hull algorithm may be unable to preheat tubes in windy conditions. • Fatigue damage due to preheat is less than 5%, avoiding creep-fatigue interaction. Preheating of the absorber tubes of a central receiver is a crucial operation in the start-up of current solar power tower plants (SPT) working with molten salt as a heat transfer fluid. In the preheating, a subset of the heliostat field is aimed at the receiver to produce an incident heat flux capable of heating the tube walls before they are filled with the molten salt. Incident radiation should be kept above a minimum as an insufficient level of preheating may lead to the freezing of the incoming flow of molten salt, interrupting the receiver operation. However, too much incident heat flux in the preheating causes severe thermal gradients in the walls of the tubes, leading to extremely high thermal-stresses and the eventual fatigue damage of the receiver. The present work numerically characterizes the temporal evolution of the temperature and thermal-stresses in the absorber tubes made of Haynes 230 alloy. This is done for two examples of SPT plants, i.e. Gemasolar and Dunhuang, with the aim of detecting when and where the largest temperature gradients and mechanical stresses appear during the tube preheating and evaluate their impact on the fatigue damage of the receiver tubes. The results show that during the first seconds of preheating, the front side to the tube is rapidly heated but the temperature at rear side of the tube is barely modified, causing a great non-uniformity of temperatures. This effect is enhanced when the tube diameter is increased because the heat requires more time to reach the rear side of the tubes. The peak values of the temperature gradient and the von Mises stress are reached during the first minutes of the preheating. Besides, under windy conditions, the preheating procedure proposed by Vant-Hull may be insufficient to preheat the receiver. Furthermore, in all the cases analyzed, the estimated fatigue damage of the tube is much less than the 5 % upper limit to avoid significant creep-fatigue interaction. This indicates the Vant-Hull algorithm does not compromise the structural integrity of the studied receiver tubes.

Assessment of the time resolution used to estimate the central solar receiver lifetime

This study assesses the impact of the time resolution and design day on the estimated lifetime of the molten-salt external tubular receiver of a solar power tower, one of the most damaged components of these facilities, considering operation under clear conditions. A global analysis is performed by first determining the heliostat field aiming strategy; the receiver operation limits are set to keep a low enough film temperature and to avoid the stress reset. The former prevents excessive corrosion rates of the tubes while the latter assures the global stress relaxation, which significantly reduces their damage during the receiver cyclic operation. Time steps of 60, 30, 15, 5 and 1 min are tested considering the spring equinox design day, as well as only solar noon conditions. The latter significantly underpredicts the receiver lifetime with respect to the 1-min case, being early discarded. The lifetime in the most damaged panel is underestimated over 18% and 16% using the 60- and 30-minute time steps, dropping to 2.57% using the 5-min time step at a reasonable computational cost. Finer resolutions enable more precise aiming strategy selection, decreasing the receiver peak fluxes. Lastly, a set of 8 representative days for the year, equally spaced in solar height, is more accurate than using the spring equinox alone, which results in an underestimate of the receiver lifetime that may be overly conservative. The summer solstice is the least-damaging day, with the lifetime decreasing as approaching the winter one, as long as the storage tank is filled.

Optimum Height and Tilt Angle of the Solar Receiver for a 30 kWe Solar Tower Power Plant for the Electricity Production in the Sahelian Zone

This work investigated the prediction of the optimum height and tilt angle of the solar receiver of a 30 kWe solar tower power plant for the electricity production in the Sahelian zone. Initially, the solar field is sized to determine the total reflecting surface area of the mirrors and the number of heliostats. A PS10-like radially staggered heliostat field is used to design the heliostat layout in the field using a Matlab code. The concentrated solar flux at the input of the receiver was determined using Soltrace software by the Monte Carlo ray tracing (MCRT) method. The sizing results show that the total reflecting surface area is 350 m2 for an optical efficiency of 76.4% and a reference DNI of 600 W/m2. The solar field layout indicates 175 heliostats of 2 m2 surface area and 1.5 m height each. The simulation results show that the optimum height and tilt angle of the solar receiver are 26 m and 65°, respectively.

Thermoeconomic optimization of a novel high-efficiency combined-cycle hybridization with a solar power tower system

Today, the international community is obligated to utilize renewable energy due to accelerated energy consumption on the one hand and the necessity of environmental pollution reduction, on the other hand. Meanwhile, the Solar Power Tower (SPT) is at significantly optimum conditions for integration with conventional fossil power plants due to reaching temperatures of up to 1200 °C and a high-power generation capacity. The present paper demonstrates the optimal layout of the new hybrid-cycle power generation section with SPT. The Heliostat field was optimized as a transient optical model at all hours of the year by considering the city of Seville as a case study using the System Advisor Model (SAM). Subsequently, the cycle’s thermo-economic model was developed using Engineering Equation Solver (EES) to minimize the Levelized Cost Of Electricity (LCOE). In the following, four fluids of n-Butane, R245fa, n-Pentane, and R123 were utilized for the final analysis as a downstream fluid. Through this process, the appropriate operating fluid was selected. The study results demonstrate an increase in the efficiency of the novel proposed cycle layout compared to a solar power tower power plant with standard pressurized air-fluid; moreover, it reduced fuel consumption, CO2 emission, and LCOE. The maximum efficiency and the minimum LCOE were53.25% and 61.8 $/MWh, respectively. The n-Pentane fluid was recognized as the most appropriate fluid for the downstream cycle. Due to the optimization of solar parts, the number of heliostat field mirrors were 889, with a total area of 131,525 m2 and a central tower height of 105.87 m. The novel presented cycle layout solves a portion of the pressurized air receiver limitations, enabling access to higher efficiency and lower LCOE with the real payback time (RPBT) of 3.876 years, the annual solar share of 23.1%, and reduction of CO2 production by 33,426 ton/year. Consequently, this study’s proposed cycle layout signifies a promising future for using SPT with high efficiency and better environmental and economic conditions.