Comparison of Various Solar Radiation Data Sources for Feasibility Study of Parabolic Trough Collector Power Plant in Assam

Abstract

In the present study, an attempt was made to analyze the effect of DNI on the output of 50 MW parabolic trough collector (PTC) based concentrated solar power (CSP) system for Karbi Anglong district of Assam. The selection of location was mainly done on the basis of the most number of unelectrified villages available. Five different satellite derived data sources were used to collect the monthly average daily global horizontal irradiation, diffuse irradiation (DI), direct normal irradiation, and other meteorological parameters. These data were further converted to hourly values using PVSyst software and finally to the Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) format files. These TMY files were used to estimate the annual electricity production using System Advisor Model (SAM) and finally levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) production was determined. It was observed that variation of annual electricity production from 90 to 119 GWh and therefore LCOE varies from Rs. 9.56/kWh to Rs. 12.55/kWh.