Viability analysis of solar parabolic dish stand-alone power plant for Indian conditions

The solar parabolic dish collector is one of the most efficient energy conversion technologies among the concentrating solar power (CSP) systems. The design and implementation of solar parabolic dish power plants will result in sustainable energy generation. In this article, techno-economic feasibility analysis of a 5MWe solar parabolic dish collector field is carried out for entire India covering 58 locations. The solar parabolic dish power plant configuration is investigated based on various parameters such as the spacing between dish collectors, land area required, percentage of the shadow and energy yield. The shadow profile around the dish throughout the year at various latitudes (8–35°N) for various plant-operating hours is determined. In-line arrangement of the solar dish collector arrays is found to be a better choice in terms of the minimum land area required for setting up the power plant. The generalized correlations are developed for both east–west and north–south spacing distances as the function of latitude and plant operating hours. It is found that the configuration corresponding to the plant operating from 1h after sunrise to 1h before sunset with spacing distance in east–west direction equal to the shadow length after 2h sunrise and in north–south direction equal to shadow length at noon for winter solstice gives the highest energy output with optimum land use. The minimum and maximum average annual power generation at Panaji and Tiruchirapalli are 7.25GWh, and 12.68GWh respectively. The minimum levelised electricity cost (LEC) for a stand-alone solar parabolic dish power plant with the clean development mechanism (CDM) is found to be INR 9.83 ($ 0.197, 1$=INR 50) at Indore with payback period of 10.63years with cost benefit ratio of 1.48. Based on the financial performance, most of the northern region locations and some of the western and southern region locations are found attractive for power generation by the solar parabolic dish power collector based on the direct steam generation, where direct normal irradiation (DNI) is more than 5kWh/m2day.