Thermo-economic analysis of integrated linear Fresnel reflector gas turbine trigeneration power plants

Abstract

The present work provides an economic feasibility and annual performance of integrated linear Fresnel reflector gas turbine trigeneration power plant (LFR-GTPP) that is progressively being installed to produce electricity, steam and chilled water. In order to pinpoint the best integration mode, different sizes of gas turbine and solar collector's area have been examined and presented. Thermoflow software was used for evaluating the performance of each integrated design under consideration. The optimal solar integration sizes have been determined. Moreover, reduction in CO2 emissions due to integrating the LFR system is estimated with respect to that of the conventional trigeneration plant. For the considered trigeneration plant (that is required to produce 120.5 MW of steam, and 2500kg/s of chilled water), the study revealed that LFR-GTPP with gas turbine sizes less than 190 MWe capacities have more economic feasibility and sufficient ability for utilizing solar energy. The levelized electricity cost (LEC) for the (LFR-GTPP) varied between 4.28 US and 5.6 US/kWh. Furthermore, the study revealed that integrating LFR system with a conventional gas turbine trigeneration power plant in Sun Belt regions leads to a considerable avoidance in CO2 emissions compared to the conventional trigeneration plant.