Technical and economic analysis of the conversion on an existing coal-fired thermal power plant to solar-aided hybrid power plant

Abstract

In this study, the thermodynamic and economic analysis of the hybrid power plant obtained by integrating Linear Fresnel Reflectors, which is one of the systems used in the concentrating solar power plants, to an existing coal-fired power plant was carried out. When thermodynamic effects were examined, specific dates, time, solar radiation, solar field and load factor were taken as parameters. Firstly, the area of the solar power plant was determined by thermodynamic optimization. Then, solar energy share in annual electricity generation and fuel and emission savings are calculated within the framework of specific scenarios. As a result of thermodynamic analysis, it has been found that placing the solar field parallel to the high pressure preheaters is the most feasible solution. In economic calculations, the investment payback period was found taking into account emissions and fuel savings and the share of solar energy in annual electricity generation. The effect of the solar field unit investment price and emission unit price on the payback period has been examined. The maximum annual fuel and emission savings were found for Scenario 7 as 7003,667 t/year and 7748,849 tCO2/year, respectively. It has been found that the payback period could be 7 years if the unit price of the solar field is 132 €/m2 or the support price for renewable energy is 0,225 €/kWh. As a result, in the coming years financially of this hybrid system to be implemented in Turkey it has been shown to be much more economical.