Performance analysis of an Integrated Solar Combined Cycle using Direct Steam Generation in parabolic trough collectors

The contribution of solar thermal power to improve the performance of gas-fired combined cycles in very hot and dry environmental conditions is analyzed in this work, in order to assess the potential of this technique, and to feature Direct Steam Generation (DSG) as a well suited candidate for achieving very good results in this quest. The particular Integrated Solar Combined Cycle (ISCC) power plant proposed consists of a DSG parabolic trough field coupled to the bottoming steam cycle of a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plant. For this analysis, the solar thermal power plant performs in a solar dispatching mode: the gas turbine always operates at full load, only depending on ambient conditions, whereas the steam turbine is somewhat boosted to accommodate the thermal hybridization from the solar field. Although the analysis is aimed to studying such complementary effects in the widest perspective, two relevant examples are given, corresponding to two well-known sites: Almeria (Spain), with a mediterranean climate, and Las Vegas (USA), with a hot and dry climate. The annual simulations show that, although the conventional CCGT power plant works worse in Las Vegas, owing to the higher temperatures, the ISCC system operates better in Las Vegas than in Almeria, because of solar hybridization is especially well coupled to the CCGT power plant in the frequent days with great solar radiation and high temperatures in Las Vegas. The complementary effect will be clearly seen in these cases, because the thermal power provided by the solar field compensates the gas turbine part load performance due to the high temperatures. The economical analysis points out that this hybrid scheme is a cheaper way to exploit concentrated solar energy, although it is limited to a small fraction of the combined cycle power. The analysis also shows that the marginal cost of solar electricity is strongly influenced by the goodness of coupling, so this cost is lower in Las Vegas than in Almeria. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.