Estimation of technology progression and cost analysis for a floating solar chimney power plant: A special case - Isfahan city in Iran

Abstract

Regarding the growing need for cheap and unlimited energy sources, renewable energies have been considered. Solar energy is one of the main sources of energy. This article studies the performance of floating solar chimney technology for the manufacturing purpose in Isfahan city. In this purpose, Isfahan city is considered to determine the performance of floating solar chimney power plant (SCPP) to build this type of SCPP. The results have shown that the floating solar chimney power plant can produce 5-200 MW of electrical energy in Isfahan city. Then a study is performed according to return of finance rate, net price value, and finance return period criteria. The results have shown that these power plants are able to be built in large scales of 100 and 200 MW of electricity with an annual capacity of 381 and 712 GW with 44 and 60%, respectively. However, a comparison between the cost analyses of two tested models shows that the 200 MW power plant with a cost of 13,941.52 milliard Rials is more beneficial in Isfahan city.