Thermo-economic assessment of the first integrated solar combined cycle system of Hassi R’mel

Abstract

The aim of this study is the thermo-economic assessment of an integrated solar combined cycle ISCC system, in terms of thermal efficiency and levelized cost of energy (LCOE). During the day, the power plant operates as an ISCC and operates as a conventional combined cycle (CC) during the night or cloudy days. The obtained results show that the solar electricity ratio may reach about 17% and the global thermal efficiency 63%, leading to lower fuel consumption and carbon emission. On the other hand, the economic assessment depicts that LCOE may reach 0.0222 $/kWh, which is about 28% higher than that of (CC) power plants. Furthermore, by introducing the environmental effect LCOE becomes equal to 0.0272 $/kWh which is higher. Therefore, the solar contribution relatively to this installation will allow about 18.45 million $ of fuel saving, avoiding the emission of 0.89 million ton of CO2 over lifetime operation.