International Journal of Renewable Energy Development
Int. J. Renew. Energy Dev. 2023, 12(4), 767-778
| 767
https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.2023.54056
ISSN: 2252-4940/© 2023.The Author(s). Published by CBIORE
Contents list available at IJRED website
International Journal of Renewable Energy Development
Journal homepage: https://ijred.undip.ac.id
Assessment of the technical-economic performance and optimization
of a parabolic trough solar power plant under Algerian climatic
conditions
Khaled Bouchareba,b* , Nabila Ihaddadenea,c, Khellaf Belkhiria,b , Khaoula Ikhlefd ,
Aissa Boudilmia
aDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Med Boudiaf University, BP 166, M’sila 28000, Algeria.
bLaboratory of Materials and Mechanics of Structure L.M.M.S, University of M'sila, M’sila 28000, Algeria.
cLaboratory of Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development (LRESD), University of Mentouri Brothers Constantine, Constantine 25000, Algeria.
dEcole Nationale Polytechnique d’Alger (ENP), LGMD Laboratory, B.P. 182, El-Harrach, Algiers, Algeria.
Abstract. In this study, the design, analysis and optimization of the performance of a concentrated solar power plant that is based on the parabolic
trough technology with a capacity of 100 MW equipped with a thermal energy storage system were conducted, in two representative sites in Algeria
(Tamanrasset and M’Sila). The System Advisor Model software is used to evaluate the technical and economic performances of the two proposed
power plants, in addition to carrying out the process of optimizing the initial design of the two power plants by finding the optimal values of the solar
multiple and full load hours of the thermal energy storage system, with the aim of increasing the annual energy production and reducing the levelized
cost of electricity. The results of the performance analysis conducted on the optimized design showed that the optimum values of the solar multiple
and full load hours of the thermal energy storage system for the proposed power plant at the Tamanrasset site were found to be 2.4 and 7 h,
respectively, with an annual electricity production of 514.6 GWh, and a minimum value of the levelized cost of electricity of 6.3¢/kWh. While the
optimum performance of the proposed plant at the M'Sila site can be achieved by selecting a solar multiple of 3 and 7 h for thermal energy storage
system, with a high annual energy production of 451.84 GWh and a low value of the levelized cost of electricity of 7.8¢/kWh. The results demonstrate
that CSP plants using parabolic trough technology can increase energy security in the country, while reducing environmental concerns associated
with the use of fossil materials.
Keywords: Solar energy, Concentrated solar power, Parabolic trough power plant, System Advisor Model (SAM).
@ The author(s). Published by CBIORE. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
Received: 4th May 2023; Revised: 18th June 2023; Accepted: 29th June 2023; Available online: 5th July 2023
1. Introduction
The needs of mankind for energy are increasing every year, this
is due both to the growth of the population, the development of
production and technology, and to the increase in energy
consumption in everyday life. As human demand for modern
energy supply increases, attention to solar energy becomes
more intense. Consequently, there are active plans to utilize
solar energy for different processes to minimize energy demand
from conventional energy supply sources (Bouguila & Said,
2020).
The production of electric energy by exploiting renewable
energies, especially solar energy, is a challenge of great
importance for the coming years (Keykhah et al., 2021). In fact,
Algeria's electric power needs are rising every day. Moreover,
Algeria will need more energy to implement its development
plans. Today, most of the energy production in Algeria comes
from fossil sources, the intensive use of these sources leads to
the depletion of its reserves and thus the insecurity of energy in
the country, because it is not considered a renewable energy
source, in addition to the negative effects on the environment
* Corresponding author
Email: khaled.bouchareb@univ-msila.dz (K. Bouchareb)
(greenhouse gas emissions). With Algeria's energy demand
expected to increase by about 53%, its current reservoirs of
conventional energy resources are expected to sufficiently
support the country's electricity production for about 50 years
(Benhadji Serradj et al., 2021).
In order to remove all these restrictions, the Algerian state
must turn to renewable energies, especially solar energy, to
exploit it in order to meet the increasing demand for energy in
the country. Algeria is the largest country in Africa in terms of
area, located in the center of North Africa on the Mediterranean
coast, between latitudes 19° and 38°N and longitudes 8°W and
12°E, with an area of 2,381,741 km², and a transitional climate,
from maritime in the northern regions to semi-arid and arid in
the central and southern regions (Benhadji Serradj et al., 2021;
Keykhah et al., 2021). As it is located within the sun belt region,
Algeria has great potential for solar energy. It has one of the
highest solar energy deposits in the world (Abbas et al., 2013; T.
E. Boukelia et al., 2015b). The northern region sees
approximately 2650 hours of the insolation time annually, while
in the southern region it reaches about 3500 hours (Stambouli et
al., 2012).
Research Article
https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.2023.54056
https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.2023.54056
mailto:khaled.bouchareb@univ-msila.dz
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3230-7202
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1962-4481
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6326-6717
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.14710/ijred.2023.54056&domain=pdf
K. Bouchareb et al Int. J. Renew. Energy Dev 2023, 12(4), 767-778
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ISSN: 2252-4940/© 2023. The Author(s). Published by CBIORE
The energy transition is Algeria's path to a secure,
environmentally friendly and economically prosperous future.
The central element of this transition is the restructuring of our
energy supply towards the use of renewable energies. This
means that renewable energy will become our primary source
of electricity. In recent years, there has been an increase in the
level of use in the electricity sector.
In response to the high demand for energy and the negative
impacts on the environment, researchers around the world are
working to find more sustainable alternative energy
technologies.
Among the power generation technologies that have been
developed, concentrated solar power (CSP) systems are a direct
alternative to power plants based on fossil fuels. CSP plants can
contribute 6% of the world's electric power demand by 2030 and
12% by 2050 (Islam et al., 2018).
CSP appears to be the method of choice for large capacity,
utility-scale electric generation in the near term. This
technology has the possibility of energy storage and auxiliary
heat production during sunlight unavailability.
In CSP systems, sunlight is concentrated using mirrors to
create heat, then the heat is used to create steam, which is used
to drive turbines and generators, just like in a conventional
power station. Since solar energy is not very dense, it is
necessary to concentrate the solar radiation to obtain high
temperatures that can be exploited to produce electricity (Islam
et al., 2018; Stambouli et al., 2012). According to the
concentrating geometry, CSP systems can be classified into
point and linear concentrators; solar tower and dish solar
systems use point concentrators, while parabolic trough and
linear Fresnel collectors use linear concentrators (T. E. Boukelia
et al., 2015a; El Gharbi et al., 2011).
The CSP plants have economic justification only for
locations where direct normal irradiation (DNI) values are
greater than 5.5 kWh/m2/day or (2000 kWh/m2/year) (Hirbodi
et al., 2020).
The parabolic trough technology power plant is one of the
best proven CSP systems for its maturity and applicability in arid
and semi-arid regions (Reddy & Kumar, 2012). CSP-based
technology is suitable for high DNI areas (Praveen et al., 2018).
With sunlight concentrated approximately 70-100 times by
parabolic trough mirror technology, the operating temperature
achieved is in the range of 350-550°C (Ummadisingu & Soni,
2011). The thermal energy collected at the solar field level is
transported by a heat transfer fluid (HTF) that circulates through
the solar receivers and returns to a series of heat exchangers in
the power block where superheated high-pressure steam is
generated. The power block actually used in solar power plants
is the steam cycle which uses a steam turbine generator to
produce electrical energy (Lovegrove & Csiro, 2012).
Most designs of commercial parabolic trough technology
CSP plants contain a solar field and a power block, and in order
to maintain a constant electrical energy production both
thermal energy storage (TES) and fuel backup systems can be
used (T. E. Boukelia et al., 2015a). The majority of CSP plants
using parabolic trough technology are equipped with TES
system to ensure constant energy production and to extend the
plant's operating time during times of low or absent solar
radiation (Bouguila & Said, 2020).
Reddy et al. (Reddy & Kumar, 2012) conducted a technical
and economic study of a 5 MW CSP plant with parabolic trough
technology at 58 sites in India. The results showed that the
annual electricity production in the studied sites ranged
between 11 and 18 MW, and the levelized cost of electricity
(LCOE) in Jodhpur site amounted to 11.00 and 11.84 Indian
rupees/kWh for the plant that uses oil and water as HTF,
respectively. Kalogirou (Kalogirou, 2013) analyzed the technical
characteristics, the cost of electricity produced and land area
required, for three types of CSP technology (parabolic trough,
solar tower and solar dish) in Cyprus. The results indicate that
the CSP plant with a parabolic trough and a TES system with a
capacity of 4 h is the best option for installation in Cyprus, since
it has a high annual efficiency and does not require a large land
area.
A study by Guzman et al. (Guzman et al., 2014) where the
performance of a parabolic trough CSP plant with TES system
for the city of Barranquilla (Colombia) is simulated for find the
ideal plant design optimization and the key design parameters.
The results showed that the studied plant could contribute 50%
of the city's electrical consumption, and through the
optimization results it was found that the solar multiple (SM) is
2 and 6 hours for the capacity of the TES system. Bhuiyan et al.
(Bhuiyan et al., 2020) carried out a study to optimize key design
parameters of a parabolic trough CSP plant, in addition to
evaluating the optimum design performance of the plant at eight
different sites in Bangladesh. The results showed that the power
plant that uses molten salt as a HTF offers better performance
compared to the thermal oil plant. Tahir et al. (Tahir et al., 2021)
evaluated the technical and economic feasibility of a CSP plant
with a parabolic trough collector at six sites in Pakistan, and
carried out an optimization study to obtain the optimal design
of the proposed plants that reduces the LCOE. The results
indicated that Pishin site provided the lowest value for LCOE
compared to other sites, and in terms of the availability of
suitable infrastructure, it is noticed that Quetta site is the ideal
site for the construction of these plants. Mohammadi et al.
(Mohammadi et al., 2021) conducted a technical, economic and
environmental analysis of the performance of a solar power
plant with a parabolic trough technology for thermal energy
production in Salt Lake City (USA). The results revealed that the
annual production of the plant amounted to 15,389.24 MWth, at
a levelized cost of heat estimated at 26.3 $/MWth, and the
results showed the optimization also has a significant impact of
the values of the SM, the investment tax credit, and the total
cost of the plant on the levelized cost of heat.
Bashir et al. (Bashir & Özbey, 2022) conducted a design
study for a hypothetical CSP plant with a parabolic trough
collector with a capacity of 80 MW in Sudan, and in order to
determine the appropriate sites for the installation of such
plants, they analyzed the thermal performance and economic
feasibility of the plant studied in 15 sites in Sudan. The results
concluded that the city of Wadi Halfa, located in the northern
region of Sudan, is one of the suitable sites for the establishment
of CSP plants, given that it has the highest rates of DNI, in
addition to its good topographical characteristics and favorable
climatic conditions. The annual electrical production of the
proposed plant at the Wadi Halfa site was 281.145 GWh with an
overall efficiency and capacity factor (CF) of 15% and 40.1%,
respectively. Through the economic analysis of the plant, the
LCOE was 0.155$/kWh.
Focusing on Algeria, Benhadji Serradj et al. (Benhadji
Serradj et al., 2021) carried out a design and analysis of the
technical and economic performance of a power plant using
parabolic trough technology in the city of Tamanrasset
(southern Algeria). They found that the plant could provide
about 78% and 60% of the city's electrical consumption during
winter and summer respectively, and that the LCOE was about
0.062$/kWh with a payback period of 8.78 years. Benabdellah
et al. (Benabdellah & Ghenaiet, 2021) conducted a techno-
economic analysis of the integrated solar combined cycle
K. Bouchareb et al Int. J. Renew. Energy Dev 2023, 12(4), 767-778
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(ISCC) power plant that uses parabolic trough technology and is
currently operating in the Hassi R'mel region (southern Algeria).
The studied plant is equipped with a new TES System. The
obtained results show significant improvements in both the
overall performance of the studied plant and the efficiency of
converting solar energy into electrical energy. The results of the
economic evaluation of the studied plant showed that the LCOE
was about 9.75 ¢/kWh. In addition, the integration of the TES
system into the power plant helps better stability of the grid, and
the modified power plant can save about 30 million$ in natural
gas consumption. Debbache et al. (Debbache et al., 2018)
conducted an investigation study to find out the effect of some
parameters of the design of the parabolic trough collector
(aperture width and focal distance) on the energy produced for
the CSP plant that depends on the parabolic trough technology,
proposed in the city of Touggourt (southern Algeria). The results
of the study show that the electricity production increases with
the increase in aperture width with the smallest focal distance.
In addition, it was found that the best design for a parabolic
trough collector is an aperture width of 5 m and a focal distance
of 0.5 m which leads to an annual production of 30 MWh.
Achour et al. (Achour et al., 2018) examined the performance of
a power plant based on ISCC technology in southern Algeria by
developing a thermodynamic model to evaluate both the overall
performance of the hybrid solar power plant and the intensity of
solar radiation. The results showed that the efficiency of
converting solar energy into electricity during sunny hours
reaches 14.4%. In addition, the flow rate of the HTF and the
solar incidence angle on the collector surface are among the
factors that affect the amount of electricity generated.
From the above literature review, it is clear that the majority
of studies related to the design, performance evaluation and
optimization of CSP plants with a parabolic trough collector are
conducted at sites in Asia, India, Bangladesh, and North and
South America. However, the most of the available research
works on the deployment of CSP plants with parabolic trough
technology in Algeria is generally limited to a preliminary
evaluation of the advantages of their installation and a study of
their economic feasibility. Numerous researches related to the
design, performance analysis and optimization of the parabolic
trough CSP plants in Algeria, have been performed. However,
to the best knowledge of us, the most of these studies were
carried out on grounds located in the southern region of the
country. The question arises whether these studies can be used
to simulate the parabolic trough CSP plants in northern Algeria
such as the M'Sila site which has an important potential solar
energy as shown by (Kherbiche et al., 2021). Research in this
aspect is very important due to the urgent need to find more
sustainable alternative energy technologies such as exploiting
renewable energy sources to meet the increasing demand for
electricity in Algeria and reducing dependence on traditional
energy resources and the resulting negative effects on the
environment. For this reason, this study is being conducted to
design, analyze and optimize the performance of a 100 MW CSP
plant based on parabolic trough technology with a TES system
at two representative sites in Algeria. An important aspect of
this analysis is the comparison of the results of two
representative sites in Algeria (Tamanrasset and M'Sila).
2. Methodology
The design and analysis of the technical and economic
performance of the CSP plant based on the proposed parabolic
trough technology is carried out at the two selected sites using
System Advisor Model (SAM), a software used to design and
evaluate the technical and economic potential of solar power
plants, and to assist in the decision-making of those involved in
the renewable energy industry (Achour et al., 2018). It was
developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL).
The methodology of this study consists of the following
steps: (i) collecting meteorological data for selected locations,
(ii) design of a 100 MW CSP plant with TES, (iii) evaluation of
the performance of the preliminary design of the proposed solar
power plant in two representative sites in Algeria (Tamanrasset
in the far south and M’Sila in the northern region), (iv) study the
Environmental impacts: water consumption, carbon dioxide
(CO2) emissions and natural gas preservation, and (v)
optimization of the parabolic trough power plant with TES. The
main parameters of the optimization process are full load hours
of the TES and the SM.
2.1 Site selection and resource assessment
To evaluate the performance of the proposed CSP plant, the
SAM software needs the meteorological data for the two
selected sites, which were obtained by creating a typical
meteorological year 3 (TMY3) weather file data format from the
METONORM7 software database. The average daily DNI in
Algerian territory ranges between 4.66 kWh/m2 in the northern
regions and 7.26 kWh/m2 for the southern areas, and this
corresponds to 1700 kWh/ m2/year and 2650 kWh/ m2/year
for the northern and southern regions, respectively (Taqiy
Eddine Boukelia & Mecibah, 2013; Kherbiche et al., 2021).
In this study, two representative sites in Algeria providing
average annual DNI greater than 5.5 kWh/m2/day were
selected to analyze and optimize the performance of the
proposed CSP plant. The two selected sites are Tamanrasset in
the far south, and M’Sila for the northern region. The
characteristics of the two selected sites, Tamanrasset and
M’Sila, are presented in Table 1.
In Figure 1 are shown the monthly changes of average DNI
and ambient temperature for the Tamanrasset and M’Sila sites.
Comparatively, the Tamanrasset site is characterized by a high
irradiation level of more than 7 kWh/m2/day throughout the
year except for the months of September and December. During
March, the DNI reached its maximum value of 9.019
kWh/m2/day, while December recorded its lowest value at
6.703 kWh/m2/day. It can also be observed that the maximum
and minimum values of the average ambient temperature were
respectively in the months of June and January, on the other
hand the average DNI at the M’Sila site has a maximum during
Table 1
Characteristics of the selected locations analyzed in this study.
Location
Latitude
and Longitude
Elevation (m) Daily Average
DNI(kWh/m2/day)
Daily Average
Temperature(°C)
Tamanrasset 22.78° N, 5.51° E 718 7.70 22.8
M’Sila 35.70° N, 4.54° E 476 6.25 21.6
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July of 7.934 kWh/m2/day and a minimum of 4.753
kWh/m2/day during December. In addition, the average
maximum and minimum temperature values were recorded in
July and January, respectively.
2.2 Parabolic trough solar thermal power plant
Among the CSP technologies available, the parabolic trough
technology is today the most widespread, the most successful
and the most developed for the production of electricity (Taqiy
Eddine Boukelia & Mecibah, 2013). Figure 2 is a schematic
diagram of parabolic trough solar power plants with TES. It can
be seen that these power plants consist of three main parts,
including the solar field, the TES system, and the power block
(Belgasim & Elmnefi, 2014). The solar collectors are arranged in
a series configuration known as loops and oriented in a north-
south direction to follow the sun from east to west. TES can be
used with solar power plants to ensure the continuity of
electricity production. Normally, the TES capacity is in the order
of several hours during which it is filled with HTF during the day
and emptied after sunset so that electricity is still produced even
after sunset.
2.3 characteristics of the proposed CSP plant design
The CSP plant subject to this study consists of 898160 m2 of
solar field reflector based on the one of LS3 Model (LUZ solar
collector, third generation). These collectors are equipped with
a Schott PTR70 2008 type vacuum receiver tube. The LS3 solar
collectors are oriented in the north-south direction and its
direction axis is parallel to the horizontal plane. The HTF used
in the solar field is Therminol VP-1, and molten salt as the
storage fluid, these two traditional HTF fluids are often used in
CSP-based power generation systems (Bouguila & Said, 2020).
The solar multiple (SM) is defined as the ratio between
thermal power obtained by the solar field at design point and
thermal power required by the power block at nominal
conditions, and it can be expressed as (Marugán-Cruz et al.,
2019) :
int
th SF
design po
th PB
E
SM
E
= (1)
where: Eth SF is the thermal energy obtained by the solar field and
Eth PB is the thermal energy required by the power block at
nominal conditions.
The proposed CSP plant has a TES system in the form of two
circular tanks containing molten salt which consists of 60%
sodium nitrate (NaNO3) and 40% potassium nitrate (KNO3)
(Purohit & Purohit, 2017). TES system allows the supply of
thermal energy to the power block when solar radiation is low
or absent during the day or night (Ghodbane et al., 2021).
The full load hours of TES for a CSP plant specifies the
number of hours thermal storage can supply energy to the
power block to operate at the designed input level (T. E.
Boukelia et al., 2015b), and is given by the expression:
des TES
TES
des cycle
P h
H
= (2)
where: HTES is the thermal energy storage system capacity; Pdes
is the design cycle thermal requirement; hTES the total number of
Fig. 1 Average DNI per month and ambient temperature
for the two selected sites (Tamanrasset and M'Sila).
Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of a parabolic trough CSP plant with TES system.
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desired storage hours; and
des cycle
the design point cycle
efficiency.
For the initial analysis, the value of the SM is set as 2 and
the full load hours for TES are taken to be 6 h. The initial design
of the 100 MW parabolic trough solar thermal power plant with
TES system was carried out in order to evaluate its performance
in the cities of Tamanrasset and M’Sila. Optimal values of SM
and full load hours for TES will be obtained through the initial
design optimization process. Table 2 summarizes the initial
design parameters of the proposed CSP plant.
2.3.1 Energy Analysis
The total incident solar energy received by the solar field
opening is given as:
cos
inc
Q A DNI= (3)
Where A is the Collector’s aperture area and the Angle of
incidence.
The total utile energy delivered by the solar field is presented
as:
( )
field f SFo SFi
Q m H H= − (4)
where: mf is the mass flow rate of the HTF, HSFO enthalpy at the
outlet of solar field, and HSFi enthalpy at the inlet of the solar
field.
Therefore, the energy efficiency of the solar field can be found
as:
field
SF
inc
Q
Q
= (5)
The power block energy efficiency is expressed as:
net
PB
inp
W
Q
= (6)
Table 2
Characteristics of the proposed parabolic trough power plant (Cáceres et al., 2016; Guzman et al., 2014; Hirbodi et al., 2020).
Characteristics Value
Solar Field
Total Field Reflector Area
Solar Multiple
Field HTF Fluid
Number of Loops
Single Loop Aperture
Field HTF Min Operating Temperature
Field HTF Max Operating Temperature
Design Loop Inlet Temperature
Design Loop Outlet Temperature
Water Usage per Wash
Number of Washes per Year
898160 m2
2
Therminol VP-1
206
4360 m2
12°C
400 °C
293 °C
391 °C
0.7 L/m2
63
Collectors
Collectors Type
Reflective Aperture Area
Aperture Width, Total Structure
Length of Collector Assembly
Number of Modules per Assembly
Length of Single Module
Luz LS-3
545 m2
5.75 m
100 m
12
8.33 m
Receivers
Receiver Type
Absorber Tube Inner Diameter
Absorber Tube Outer Diameter
Glass Envelope Inner Diameter
Glass Envelope Outer Diameter
Schott PTR 70 2008
0.066 m
0.07 m
0.115 m
0.12 m
Power Cycle
Design Gross Output
Estimated Gross to Net Conversion Factor
Estimated Net Output at Design (Nameplate)
Rated Cycle Conversion Efficiency
Design Inlet Temperature
Design Outlet Temperature
Condenser Type
111 Mwe
0.9
100 Mwe
0.356
391 °C
293 °C
Evaporative
Thermal Storage
Storage Type
Full Load of TES
Storage Volume
TES Thermal Capacity
Parallel Tank Pairs
Storage HTF Min Operating Temperature
Storage HTF Max Operating Temperature
Storage HTF Fluid
Two Tank
6 h
25304.4m3
1870.79MWht
1
238 °C
593 °C
Hitec Solar Salt
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where: Wnet is the net power generation and Qinp is the total
thermal energy received by the power block.
The plant’s final energy efficiency is calculated as follows:
net
overall
inc
W
Q
= (7)
The net capacity factor (CF) of a designed CSP plant with a
capacity of 100 MW is expressed as:
24
net
W
CF
h
ND plant power capacité
day
=
(8)
where: ND is the number of days in a year.
2.3.2 Economic Analysis
The LCOE is one of the most important indicators used in
evaluating the economic performance of CSP plants (Azouzoute
et al., 2020); it is calculated by dividing the accumulated
construction and operating costs of a solar power plant by the
total annual energy produced during the operating life of the
plant, as given in the following equation (Cáceres et al., 2016):
( )
( )
0 1
1
1
1
N
n
nn
N
n
nn
C
I
d
LCOE
Q
d
=
=
+
+
=
+
(9)
where: I0 is the initial investment expenditures, Cn is the annual
total costs for the year n, Qn is the electricity produced for the
year n, N is the economic life of the power plant, and d is the
discount rate.
The assumptions and economic data used in the simulations on
the SAM software for the parabolic trough CSP plant are
presented in Table 3.
3. Results and discussions
The design, analysis and optimization of the performance of a
CSP plant that is based on the parabolic trough technology
described in the preceding sections yielded results that are now
presented and discussed. It will be seen that CSP plants using
parabolic trough technology are one of the most promising
technologies in the field of electric power generation in Algeria.
3.1 Performance Analysis of the CSP Plant Design
Figure 3 shows the hourly data of the thermal energy incident
on the solar field and the thermal energy produced from the
solar field, the input of thermal energy for the power block, the
thermal energy stored in the TES system, and the net electrical
output of the proposed power plant at the Tamanrasset site. The
net electrical output depends on the incident irradiation and the
thermal energy input to the power cycle.
The value of the maximum thermal energy incident on the
solar field was found to be about 840.53 MW in March, while
the maximum value of the thermal energy entered into the
power cycle was recorded at about 311.79 MW in March, due
to the availability of solar resources for the selected site in this
period of the year. During the period from February to October,
the solar resources are high, the TES system tank is charged
during the day with thermal energy in excess of the power block
needs, and at the time of low solar radiation or after sunset, the
TES system provides thermal energy to the power block to
continue to produce electrical energy.
Table 3
The main financial input parameters used in the economic modeling of the proposed CSP plant (Benhadji Serradj et al., 2021; Enjavi-Arsanjani
et al., 2015; Ikhlef & Larbi, 2020; Zhang et al., 2013).
Financial Data Value
Analysis Period
Loan Term
Loan Rate
Inflation Rate
Real Discount Rate
Nominal Discount Rate
Assessed Percent
Insurance Rate
Sales Tax
State Income Tax Rate
30 years
20 years
8% years
4.6%/year in 2018
4%/year in 2018
8.78%/year
80% of installed cost
0.3% of installed cost
5% of installed cost
15%/year
Direct Costs
Site Improvements
Solar Field Cost
HTF System Cost
Storage Cost
Power Block
Balance of Plant
Contingency
15 $/m2
150 $/m2
60 $/m2
65 $/kWht
1150 $/kWht
120 $/kWht
10% of direct costs
Indirect Costs
Engineering, Procurement and Construction
Other Costs
13% of direct costs
3.5% of direct costs
Operation and Maintenance Costs
Fixed Cost by Capacity
Variable Cost by Generation
70 $/kW-year
3 $/MWh
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Figure 4 presents the hourly data for thermal energy
incident on the solar field to the net electrical output of the
proposed CSP plant at the M'Sila site. The peak value of the
solar thermal incident was found around 705.08 MW in July,
which is lower than the maximum recorded at the Tamanrasset
site. This is due to the noticeable difference in the values of DNI
between the two sites. The maximum thermal energy input to
the power block was recorded as 319.29 MW in August. In
addition, it should be noted that the TES system during the
summer months contributes significantly to extending the
period of electrical energy production after sunset, due to the
availability of solar resources during this period, while the
amount of energy stored in the winter months is very low, which
Fig. 3 Field incident solar thermal power, thermal power input for a power cycle and electrical output (Tamanrasset).
Fig. 4 Field incident solar thermal power, thermal power input for a power cycle and electrical output (M’Sila).
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does not allow the system storage extends the duration of
electrical energy production until after sunset.
Figure 5 shows the average monthly electric power
generation obtained from the proposed CSP plant in both
Tamanrasset and M’Sila sites. The monthly energy generated
from the parabolic trough power plant in Tamanrasset peaks
during the month of March and May, reaching a 48.06 GWh and
45.12 GWh, respectively, the lowest value of the monthly energy
generated for the Tamanrasset site was found during the month
of December, reaching a value of 26.41 GWh. For the proposed
power plant in the M’Sila site, it is seen that the highest monthly
production of electric energy was found during the months of
June and July, with a value of 42.23 GWh and 45.99 GWh,
respectively, and the minimum values of monthly generated
energy were found during January and December, which are
13.65 GWh and 9.22 GWh respectively. It is clear that the
monthly variation of the net energy production, for each site,
almost follows the monthly variation of the DNI. The annual
production of energy generated from the two CSP plants was
454.51 GWh, 329.66 GWh for Tamanrasset and M’Sila site,
respectively. It can be seen that the proposed power plant in
Tamanrasset provided the highest annual generation of electric
energy compared to the proposed plant in M’Sila, and the
reason is due to the marked difference in the values of DNI,
which is shown in Figure 1.
The waterfall diagram in Figure 6 indicates the annual flow
of energy from incident solar irradiation on the solar field to net
electrical output. It shows the annual energy performance of
each component of the proposed power plant at the two
selected sites. As for the power plant in the city of Tamanrasset,
the total annual solar energy incident on the solar collector
amounted to 2552.34 GWh/year, while the amount of thermal
energy produced by the solar field amounted to 1362.74
GWh/year. However, the heat energy transferred to the power
block is 1314.88 GWh/year. The thermal energy produced from
the solar field of the proposed plant at the M’Sila site amounted
to 983.7 GWh/year, and the power block received an amount
of 974.14 GWh/year. It can be concluded that the main energy
losses that occur during energy transfer between the various
components of the proposed plant are at the solar field and
power block level. The losses in the solar field are found mainly
due to the thermal losses in the receivers, while the losses in the
power block are the mechanical losses, and the electrical losses
necessary to operate the auxiliary equipment.
The annual amount of electrical energy generated from the
proposed CSP plant in Tamanrasset was found to be 454.51
GWh, while M’Sila recorded 329.66 GWh, with a CF of 51.9%
and 37.7% for Tamanrasset and M’Sila, respectively. In
addition, the efficiency value of solar-to-electrical energy
conversion was 18% and 16.08% for the two selected sites,
respectively. It is clear that the proposed power plant in the city
of Tamanrasset offers high performance compared to the power
plant in M’Sila, because the levels of solar irradiation in
Tamanrasset are higher than M’Sila. Table 4 summarizes the
annual performance comparison of the two proposed power
plants in Algeria.
3.2 Cost Analysis
The economic study of the two proposed plants is based on a
LCOE calculation, the LCOE value ranged between 6.46 ¢$/kW
h in Tamanrasset, 8.82 ¢$/kW h in M’Sila.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency
(IRENA) 2020 report, 150 MW of new CSP plants were
commissioned globally in 2020 (IREA, 2020). The values of
Fig. 5 Monthly energy generation for the proposed parabolic
trough power plants in Algeria.
Fig. 6 Annual energy flow of the proposed parabolic trough power
plants.
Table 4
Comparison of annual energy yields for proposed parabolic trough plants in Algeria.
Parameter Tamanrasset M’Sila
DNI (KWh/m2/year)
Annual Power Generation (GWh)
Capacity Factor (%)
Mean Efficiency of the Solar Field(𝜼𝑺𝑭)
Mean Efficiency of the Power Block(𝜼𝑷𝑩)
Mean Efficiency of the Plant(𝜼𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍)
2810.5
454.51
51.90
53.96
34.56
18.00
2281.25
329.66
37.70
47.98
33.84
16.08
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LCOEs obtained for the two power plants in this study are lower
than the IRENA global weighted average of 0.108 $/kWh in
2020 for CSP plants. The plant located in Tamanrasset provides
the highest annual energy production with the lowest LCOE,
while the M’Sila plant offers an average annual energy
production with a relatively high LCOE.
3.3 Environmental impacts analysis
Considering the energy transition toward clean energy, CSP
technologies are more beneficial to the environment because it
emits very few damaging pollutants and reduces fossil fuel
consumption (Praveen et al., 2018). Therefore, it is necessary to
study the environmental impacts of CSP plants in order to
estimate their potential benefits. Among these effects are
natural gas preservation, carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, and
water consumption. The software SAM is used to calculate the
amount of water consumed by these plants. In general, the
water use of CSP plants is divided into three main parts, the
washing system, the steam generation, and the cooling system.
From the obtained results, it is clear that there is a difference in
the amount of water consumed by the proposed plants, which is
estimated at 1,576,475 m3 and 1,215,756 m3 in Tamanrasset and
M’Sila, respectively. The proposed CSP plant at the
Tamanrasset site consumes more water annually than the
proposed power plant in M’Sila.
Reliance on the exploitation of traditional energy to produce
electrical energy leads to energy insecurity, in addition to the
fact that the exploitation of these resources results in an
increase in the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere,
which leads to global warming and climate change (Solomon et
al., 2009). To produce 1 kWh of electricity, 0.285 m3 of natural
gas are required (Hassabelgabo Abdelrazig Ibrahim &
Mohammed Elmardi Suleiman Khayal, 2020). And 1 kWh of
electricity generation produces 0.35 m3 (0.66 kg) of CO2
emissions (Brander et al., 2011). The calculations that we have
made suggest that the quantities of natural gas and CO2
emissions that we avoid through our use of CSP plants to
generate electricity are very significant quantities compared to
conventional electricity generation systems. The results of the
environmental impact analysis of the proposed CSP plants,
including the amount of natural gas preserved, reduced CO2
emissions, and annual water consumption are summarized in
Table 5.
3.4 Optimization of the initial parabolic trough plant design
The smaller solar field of a CSP plant with parabolic trough
technology reduces the thermal energy supplied to the power
block, thus reducing the amount of electrical energy produced.
The presence of a large solar field means an increase in the
thermal energy produced, which is greater than the needs of the
power block, and with insufficient storage capacity to store the
excess thermal energy, there will be thermal energy loss and an
increased investment cost for the CSP plant. Thus, optimization
analysis is essential for the whole system.
The optimization procedure helps to determine the lowest
value of LCOE with a higher amount of annual electrical energy
produced (Awan et al., 2020). Optimization is about finding the
combination of the two inputs that minimizes the LCOE while
maximizing annual power generation. The variation of two main
design parameters, namely the SM and the full load hours of
TES, is used to optimize the proposed design.
The size of the solar field has a direct impact on annual
electricity production and LCOE. An increase in the SM value
leads to a corresponding increase in the solar field aperture and,
thus, an increase in the thermal energy produced by the solar
field. As a result, more electricity is generated, thus lowering the
LCOE value.
The variations of the annual energy production and LCOE
with the SM of the proposed CSP plant in both Tamanrasset and
M’Sila sites are shown in Figures 7(a) and 7(b), respectively. As
shown in Figure 7(a) the LCOE decreases with the increase of
the SM that reaches 2.4 for the proposed plant in Tamanrasset,
Table 5
Annual quantities of preserved natural gas, carbon dioxide mitigation and annual water consumption of the proposed CSP plants (m3).
Parameters Tamanrasset M’Sila
Natural gas preservation (m3)
CO2 Mitigation (m3)
Water usage (m3)
129,536,887
159,080,387
1,576,475
93,953,884.3
115,381,963
1,215,756
Fig. 7 The variation of annual energy generation and LCOE with SM of the proposed CSP plant in: (a) Tamanrasset and (b) M’Sila.
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beyond this value there is a significant increase in the value of
the LCOE with a slight increase in the amount of annual
electricity produced. The minimum LCOE was recorded to be
around 6.33 ȼ$ /kWh with a SM of 2.4. The LCOE value rises
with higher SM values, and this is due to the fact that the capital
cost of the plant increases with the increase in the size of the
solar field. The annual power output of the plant clearly
increases with the increase in SM, but this increase becomes
negligible for higher SM values. The optimal values of the SM
for the proposed CSP plant in M’Sila was 3 with a LCOE of 7.84
ȼ$ /kWh, in addition to an increase in the annual production of
electric energy, as shown in Figure 7(b).
The full load hours of the TES system in the CSP plant are
the second design parameter that has been studied for
optimization. When solar radiation is low or after sunset the TES
system delivers more thermal energy to the power block, thus
allowing the plant to generate electricity for longer time
intervals. The variations of the annual energy production and
LCOE with the full load hours of the TES for the CSP plant
proposed at Tamanrasset and M’Sila sites are presented in
Figures 8(a) and 8(b), respectively. As shown in Figure 8(a), the
LCOE decreases with the increase of the full load hours of the
TES, reaching a value of 6.3 ȼ$ /kWh for the Tamanrasset site,
the LCOE increases after another increase in the full load hours
of the TES system. The lowest LCOE values correspond to 7 h
of TES. The optimum full load hours obtained for the proposed
power plant at the M’Sila site was 7 h with the lowest LCOE
value of 7.8 ȼ$ /kWh, and with an increase in power production
as shown in Figure 8(b).
If the full load hours of TES are increased beyond 7 h for
both the proposed CSP plants in Tamanrasset and M’Sila, the
LCOE value increases with a slight increase in annual energy
production because the solar fields of the two power plants are
not able to generate enough surplus thermal energy for a large
TES system. As for the increase in the LCOE value, the reason
is due to the high investment cost of the TES system for both
plants. The optimized design results obtained for the two
proposed CSP plants are summarized in Table 6. As can be seen
from the data in Table 6, it is evident that there is a significant
improvement in the amount of annual electric energy produced,
CF and LCOE values for the optimized configuration compared
to that of the initial design of the two studied plants.
Fig. 8 The variations of annual energy generation and LCOE with full load hours of TES of the proposed CSP plant in (a) Tamanrasset and (b)
M’Sila.
Table 6
Performance comparison of the optimized and initial design of a proposed CSP plant for two sites in Algeria.
Parameters
Tamanrasset M’Sila
Initial Optimized Initial Optimized
Annual energy output (GWh)
Capacity factor (%)
Solar multiple
Full load hours of TES
LCOE (ȼ$ /kWh)
454.51
51.9
2
6
6.46
514.6
58.8
2.4
7
6.3
329.66
37.67
2
6
8.82
451.84
51.63
3
7
7.8
Table 7
Performance comparison of the proposed CSP plant with other similar literature.
Author Annual Energy
Generation (GW h)
Mean Annual
Efficiency (%)
LCOE (¢$/kWh)
(Benhadji Serradj et al., 2021)
(Abbas et al., 2013)
(Awan et al., 2019)
Current Study
390.7
223 ‒ 415
ranges from 355.18to 397.48
451.84‒ 514.6
15.3
13.8 ‒ 16.4
16.73 ‒ 17.93
16 – 18
6.2
11.93 ‒ 29.58
10.5 ‒ 11
6.3 ‒ 7.8
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3.5 Comparison of output performance with similar studies
Table 7 presents the results of comparing the performance of
the CSP plant with the proposed parabolic trough technology in
two locations in Algeria with the results reported in some similar
studies on this technology in different locations around the
world. According to this Table, it is found that the average plant
efficiency and LCOE values are in close agreement with the
results obtained in the reviewed literature with a significant
increase in the value of the annual energy generated.
4. Conclusion
The present study was conducted to design, analyze and
optimize the performance of a concentrated solar power plant
based on parabolic trough technology with a thermal energy
storage system at two representative sites in Algeria with a wet
cooling system, the System Advisor Model software was used
to evaluate the performance of the two proposed power plants.
The initial analysis of the proposed design showed that the
annual production of the proposed concentrated solar power
plant in Tamanrasset and M’Sila amounted to 454.51 GWh and
329.66 GWh respectively. It is noteworthy that the annual
energy production has a significant relationship with the DNI
values and the climatic conditions of the site.
Evaluation of the economic performance of the proposed
concentrated solar power plants showed that the power plant in
the Tamanrasset site has the lowest LCOE at 6.46 ȼ$/kWh, as
for the proposed plant in M’Sila. It is observed that the LCOE is
less than 8.82 ȼ$/kWh. Since the two proposed power plants at
the two selected sites have the same investment costs estimated
at 627,808,128 $ per site, it is important to note that the LCOE
values are inversely proportional to the annual production of
each plant.
The environmental impact analysis revealed that the
proposed CSP plant in the Tamanrasset site consumes more
annual water than the proposed power plant in M'Sila. It can be
seen that the more arid and desert climate of the site, the greater
the annual water consumption of the plant. In terms of the
amount of annual carbon dioxide emissions that can be avoided
through the use of CSP plants to generate electricity instead of
conventional electricity generation systems, the environmental
analysis showed that the solar power plant in the Tamanrasset
site is able to avoid the amount of carbon dioxide emissions
estimated at 159,080,387 m3, while the proposed plant at the
M'Sila site has the lowest annual amount of CO2 emissions
estimated at 115,381,963 m3. The comparison of the production
of electricity through CSP plants and conventional electricity
generation systems that depend on fossil resources, shows that
a very large amount of natural gas is preserved when using CSP
plants.
The optimization procedure is based on considering the
lowest value of LCOE with the largest annual energy
production. The proposed design optimization process is done
by modifying two main design parameters, namely the SM and
full load hours of TES. The optimization study showed that there
is a significant increase in the annual energy production,
reaching 514.6 GWh and 451.84 GWh for the two sites,
Tamanrasset and M’Sila, respectively, with a clear decrease in
the values of LCOE.
This type of CSP plant, which is based on parabolic trough
technology, has shown good results in terms of power
generation and the price of electricity production in Algeria.
These results may be encouraging for the Algerian government
to exploit its large potential of solar energy to generate
electricity on a large scale and reduce the use of fossil materials,
therefore, the spread of CSP plants in Algeria is a major step for
the renewable energy sector in the country, not only to add new
energy, but also to increase energy security and address
growing environmental problems due to the use of fossil fuels.
Conflicts of Interest: No potential conflict of interest was reported by
the authors.
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