Energy, financial, and environmental investigation of a direct steam production power plant driven by linear Fresnel solar reflectors

The objective of this paper is the investigation of the annual performance of a solar power plant with linear Fresnel reflectors in the El-Oued region at Algeria. The solar collectors produce water steam that feeds a turbine to produce electricity. The System Advisor Model (SAM) tool is used for simulation. The mean net daily electricity production rate from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm is 48 MWe, and the respective annual production is 210,336 MWh/year. The mean daily optical efficiency of the solar field was close to 52%, while the mean thermal efficiency was about 39%. The net daily cycle efficiency is found to be 24%. The net capital cost of the examined system is $393 million, and the developer net present value is $47 million; the investor net present value is $15 million, the entire period of capital recovery is 11 years, and the levelized cost of electricity is 0.0382 $/kWh. The solar power plant leads to the yearly avoidance of 420,672 tons carbon dioxide emissions (operational cost savings of $6.1 million). Based on the obtained results, linear Fresnel reflectors can be used to achieve satisfying, energetic, financial, and environmental performance that can lead to sustainability. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4048158]