Trough Type Concentrating Solar Power Plant Cost Assessment With Component Scaling

A detailed numerical and empirical systems analysis tool was developed which incorporated component scaling cost equations. It was benchmarked against the known data from the Andasol-1 plant in Spain, and then used to evaluate the effect of changes in the size of the solar field, the thermal energy storage system, and the power block on the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for the plant. The simulation result indicates that when the power plant capacity increases from 50 MW to 400 MW, the LCOE decreases by 32%. Also, the model’s results indicate that an oversized field and thermal energy storage tanks help to lower the LCOE.