Design of a 100 MW Concentrated Solar Power Plant Parabolic Trough in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Al-Khobar 31952, Saudi Arabia

^* Corresponding author: Huda_m_alotaibi@hotmail.com

Abstract

The increase in energy demand and the awareness of renewable energy has been raised due to environmental and climate change and the need to establish sustainable energy development. Using fossil fuels has created a critical situation such as; climate change, air pollution, and emission of greenhouse gases also, the resources are in limited supply. The infinite source of energy such as; the sun can provide an effective and sustainable energy supply. Riyadh city in Saudi Arabia is one of the areas that receive a high quantity of direct solar radiation. An average direct normal irradiance (DNI) for the central region is equal to 2018 kWh/m2/year. This paper shows the design and the performance analysis of 100 MW Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) parabolic trough (PT) power plants with thermal energy storage (TES) for use in Riyadh city. The performance of this design plant is analyzed by using the system advisor model (SAM). Based on the analysis carried out for this design, the capacity factor is equal to 45.3% with an annual energy generation which is equal to 396, 801, 792 kWh. By varying two main parameters, the solar field size and the full load hours of TES to get the optimal design of this plant is done. Based on the simulation result, the proposed design of 100 MW parabolic trough at 1, 150, 000 m2 solar field size and 7 h TES gives the lowest Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) with an assumed lifespan of the plant of 25 years.