Robust Design of Thermal Solar Power Station Using System Advisor Model (SAM) Software as the First Pilot Project in Palestine

Abstract

Concentrating solar power (CSP) imposes itself as a new and efficient renewable energy technology. This technology will be extremely helpful in improving the quality of life for many people around the world who lack the energy needed to live a healthy life. However, the cost of electricity from contemporary solar thermal power plants remains high, despite several decades of development, and a step-change in technology is needed to drive down costs. Construction of the first thermal solar power plant in Palestine is complicated by the lack of an established, standardized and power plant configuration, which presents the designer with a large number of choices. To assist decision making, thermo-economic studies have been performed on a variety of different power plant configurations until reaching good results and performance. In this thesis, a robust design of thermal solar power plant as a pilot project is designed. The design starts with modeling the solar radiation for Gaza Strip location, reviewing different parts of the system which are solar collectors, receivers, thermal storage system and power generation system, and ends with designing a solar power plant for the Turkish-Palestinian friendship hospital in Al-Zahra town with net output power of 5.40 MW. The technology of parabolic trough collector (PTC) is chosen, then modeling of the proposed system is done using system advisor model (SAM) software. This thesis evaluated the designed method and shows good results in the presence of uncertainty and the project achieved better price for electricity than the present price in Gaza Strip by a percentage of 3.5% in addition to environmentally friendly power.