The potential of CSP plants for remote communities in the MENA region

The present work aims to investigate the load-following capability of a tower-based CSP plant assumed to cover a high fraction (90%) of the power demand of a mid-size remote community. The design of a CRS requires the determination of several variables (number of heliostats, layout arrangement, tower height, receiver dimensions) depending on the solar field size and the site location. In this paper, a two-step optimization procedure is presented. A preliminary optimization is carried out to define the solar field configurations minimizing the budget costs for a range of receiver thermal design powers (from 300 MWth to 1000 MWth). The second optimization, based on annual simulation, selects the storage tank volume, the steam turbine rated power, and the actual reflective area (number of mirrors) capable to cover 90% of the power demand at minimum cost. The analysis is carried out for two load profile and two locations in Egypt. The load profile, compared to the solar radiation availability, determines the relationship between tank capacity and turbine size. The level of radiation has the strongest impact on the oversizing of the solar field and levelized cost of electricity.