Comparison of tower and trough solar thermal power plant efficiencies in different regions of China based on SAM simulation

Abstract

Solar thermal power generation, which is dominated by tower and trough technology routes, has received extensive attention as an emerging clean energy power generation technology that can be used as a base-load power supply. This paper takes the solar thermal power generation system with installed capacity of 50 MW and 100 MW as examples and uses SAM software to analyze the tower and trough solar thermal power plant efficiencies in four different latitudes with abundant solar resources in China. The solar efficiency of the trough plant arranged in the traditional north-south direction significantly decreases with the increase of the latitude of the plant site, and shows a significant seasonal difference; the seasonal and latitudinal differences in solar efficiency of the trough plant arranged in the east-west direction are significantly reduced. Seasonal and latitudinal differences in solar efficiency of tower power plants are relatively small. Solar efficiency of tower plants is lower than trough plants in low latitudes and higher than through plants at high latitudes. This study provides a reference for the selection of technical routes for solar thermal power plants in different regions of China.