Thermodynamic and Thermoeconomic analysis of a parabolic trough Concentrated Solar Power plant with Energy Storage System

This paper aims to observe the behavior of a concentrated solar power plant with a thermal storage system and an output power of 50 MWe applying an energy, exergy and exergoeconomic analysis in various load conditions, in turn determined by the hypothesis of different regimen and temperature ranges in the storage circuit heat-exchanger. Three fluids are used: water in the Rankine cycle, water with molten salts in the storage circuit and oil through the solar field, which is a parabolic trough type. The results reveal a good response of the system in the discharge phase, due to the switching-off of the least efficient component (the solar field), as the overall exergy efficiency rises from 68% to 72% and the exergoeconomic factor from 58% to 61%. Like in similar studies, the least efficient component appears to be the solar field, and this is the reason why the exergy destruction is lower in the discharging phase.