Design, economic, and environmental assessments of linear Fresnel solar power plants

Abstract In the present work, the design‐environmental and economic (D2E) comparative study of seven different configurations of Linear Fresnel solar thermal power plants using two‐generation modes (direct and indirect steam generation) with nine various working fluids, with and without integrated thermal energy storage or/and backup fuel system is presented, with minimum levelized cost of energy (LCOE) as objective. This study is based on a power plant of capacity of 50 MW. A sensitivity analysis is developed to optimize the solar multiple of the solar field, Fossil fuel fraction of backup system (BS), and TES hours capacity, using System Advisor Model software. The results show that the wrong choice of plant's components and inexact performance optimization lead to the increasing cost of electricity generated due to operating costs and additional investments. The BS was the most significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions at all sites, contributing over 90% of total emissions, due to its relative contribution (95 kg/MWh). Finally, the combination of the storage and BSs in molten salt mode makes it more competitive under Algerian climates, which confirms that molten salt linear Fresnel solar plant with 25% of a BS and 6 hr of the storage system is the best and optimum solution.