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Simulation of GEMASOLAR-based solar tower plants for the Chinese energy market: Influence of plant downsizing and location change

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  • Amadei, C.A.
  • Allesina, G.
  • Tartarini, P.
  • Yuting, Wu

Abstract

In many countries that are experiencing a steep increase of energy demand, there is a growing challenge of responding to this demand by investing in renewable technologies for new power plants. Solar energy seems to be one of the best solutions to reduce the fossil fuels consumption for energy production purposes. In terms of high-power solar plants, concentrating towers are characterized by high efficiencies, but the investment costs are high as well. For this reason, a fundamental issue consists in simulating the solar tower behavior in different locations, in order to provide a precise estimation of both annual energy production and return of the investment. Among these types of solar plants, GEMASOLAR has been recently (2011) put in operation in Andalusia, Spain, and the data that have been obtained by this plant allow one to study its potential for application in different locations. The present work is aimed at simulating the GEMASOLAR plant behavior in some Chinese areas suitable for such a technology. All the simulations proposed here have been obtained through a Solar Advisor Model (SAM). Some of the simulations of the original plant have been modified forcing the plant to run without fossil fuel hybridization or changing its nominal power. After model validation, results have shown encouraging perspectives for the exploitation of this technology in China, with annual overall efficiencies of 14% for the 20 MW power plant (GEMASOLAR nominal power). In addition, the down-scaled plants have been optimized through native SAM software algorithm focusing on geometrical parameters. This procedure has been proved to be able of maintaining a high efficiency (14.97%) even for a 10 MW power plant. The focus has been on pilot plants, since they could represent the first step towards a deep exploitation of concentrating solar thermal power in China, with a relatively low capital risk.

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  • Amadei, C.A. & Allesina, G. & Tartarini, P. & Yuting, Wu, 2013. "Simulation of GEMASOLAR-based solar tower plants for the Chinese energy market: Influence of plant downsizing and location change," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 366-373.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:55:y:2013:i:c:p:366-373
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2012.12.022
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Boukelia, T.E. & Bouraoui, A. & Laouafi, A. & Djimli, S. & Kabar, Y., 2020. "3E (Energy-Exergy-Economic) comparative study of integrating wet and dry cooling systems in solar tower power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    3. Zhu, Yong & Zhai, Rongrong & Qi, Jiawei & Yang, Yongping & Reyes-Belmonte, M.A. & Romero, Manuel & Yan, Qin, 2017. "Annual performance of solar tower aided coal-fired power generation system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 662-674.
    4. Haneklaus, Nils & Schröders, Sarah & Zheng, Yanhua & Allelein, Hans-Josef, 2017. "Economic evaluation of flameless phosphate rock calcination with concentrated solar power and high temperature reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 1148-1157.
    5. Alonso, J. & Batlles, F.J. & López, G. & Ternero, A., 2014. "Sky camera imagery processing based on a sky classification using radiometric data," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 599-608.
    6. Gutiérrez-Alvarez, R. & Guerra, K. & Haro, P., 2023. "Market profitability of CSP-biomass hybrid power plants: Towards a firm supply of renewable energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
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    8. Boukelia, T.E. & Arslan, O. & Bouraoui, A., 2021. "Thermodynamic performance assessment of a new solar tower-geothermal combined power plant compared to the conventional solar tower power plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    9. Wang, Jianxing & Duan, Liqiang & Yang, Yongping, 2018. "An improvement crossover operation method in genetic algorithm and spatial optimization of heliostat field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 15-28.
    10. Gamil, Ahmed & Li, Peiwen & Ali, Babkir & Hamid, Mohamed Ali, 2022. "Concentrating solar thermal power generation in Sudan: Potential and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    11. Praveen R. P., 2019. "Performance Analysis and Optimization of Central Receiver Solar Thermal Power Plants for Utility Scale Power Generation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, December.
    12. Gutiérrez, R.E. & Haro, P. & Gómez-Barea, A., 2021. "Techno-economic and operational assessment of concentrated solar power plants with a dual supporting system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    13. Mihoub, Sofiane & Chermiti, Ali & Beltagy, Hani, 2017. "Methodology of determining the optimum performances of future concentrating solar thermal power plants in Algeria," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 801-810.

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