Analysis study of solar tower power plant & its configuration effects on its performance in Iraq (Baghdad City)

Abstract

A solar chimney power plant model, consisting of a solar collector to produce a hot air when the incident solar radiation hit it, a solar chimney and a wind turbine with generator wasinvestigated in this study. The mathematical model as a tool was used to study and analyze theperformance of the power plant for electrical production in Baghdad city of Iraq as a result amathematical equation was obtained forthe hot air outlet temperature from the collector as a function of collector's area and solar radiation. The Manzanares model was used in this study and the results obtained from the proposed model of solar tower, having the height 195 m, diameter of 10 m, and the solar collector diameter of 244 m were compared with the results obtained when the solar tower configuration is changed. The results indicate that the significant impact to improve the output power is by increasing thecollector's diameter from 244 m to 300 m. It is also found that output power is effectively dependent on the chimney's height, it yieldsmoderate increasing in power output when the height is increased from 195 m to 300 m, and the chimney's diameter has a lower impact on solar tower output power in comparison with the otherconfiguration of solartower when it increases from 10 m to 20 m.