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Energetic and financial investigation of a stand-alone solar-thermal Organic

Rankine Cycle power plant

Article  in  Energy Conversion and Management · October 2016

DOI: 10.1016/j.enconman.2016.08.033

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 Energetic and financial investigation of a stand-alone solar-
thermal Organic Rankine Cycle Power plant
Christos Tzivanidisa, Evangelos Bellosa, Kimon A. Antonopoulosa

a
National Technical University of Athens, Solar energy laboratory, Heroon Polytehniou 9,
15773 Zografou, Athens, Greece

* Corresponding author: bellose@central.ntua.gr (Bellos Evangelos)

Abstract
The use of solar thermal energy for electricity production is clean and sustainable way in
order to cover the increasing energy needs of our society. The most mature technology for
capturing solar energy in high temperature levels are the parabolic trough collectors (PTC).
In this study, an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) coupled with PTC is analysed
parametrically in order to optimize this system financially and energetically. The first step is
the thermodynamic investigation of the ORC by using various working fluids. The second
step is the energetic and financial investigation of the total system which includes the solar
field, a storage tank and the ORC module. By testing many combinations of collecting areas
and storage tank volumes, finally cyclohexane proved to be the most suitable working fluid
for producing 1 MWel with PTC. Specifically, in the optimum situation a solar field of 25000
m2 with storage tank of about 300m3 lead to a payback period of 9 years and to an internal
rate of return (IRR) equal to 13.46%. Moreover, an economic comparison for different
commercial collectors is presented, with Eurotrough ET-150 to be the optimum solution
financially for this case study.

Keywords
PTC, ORC, financial investigation, working fluid selection

1. Introduction
The last years, our society faces a series of problems related to energy domain. The fossil
fuel depletion, the increasing rate in electricity cost and the environmental hazards due to
CO2 emissions compound a very complicated situation worldwide. The use of alternative
and sustainable energy sources in order to produce electricity, industrial heat, space heating
and cooling is the most attractive solution energetically and financially. Solar energy is one
of the most abundant and easy utilized energy sources, especially in countries with high
irradiation level as Greece [1].
Up today in Greece, solar thermal energy is used for producing domestic hot water in the
majority of the buildings and Greece is among the 10 countries worldwide in the use of solar
thermal energy [2]. This situation proves that the use of solar thermal energy for other
applications is able to be adopted by Greek society and legislation. The development of
Power Plants for producing electricity by utilization solar energy is a promising way in order
to reduce the fossil fuel consumption and to create electricity with a zero CO 2 footprint.
There are many solar collectors that can be used in solar power plants for capturing solar
irradiation. Parabolic trough collector is the most mature technology among the existing,
1
with solar towers, Fresnel collectors and solar dish collectors to follow [4-5]. Among the
concentrated solar power plants, parabolic trough collectors are used in the 90% of the total
installations worldwide [6] and for this reason many technological improvements have been
focused on this solar device.
The most usual way to produce electricity from solar thermal energy is by using the Rankine
cycle. This cycle is characterized by high thermal efficiency when there is a high
temperature heat source as exhaust gases. In the case of lower temperature levels of heat
source, up to 300oC [7], Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is preferred. In this cycle, alternative
working fluids as MDM, MM, iso-pentane, cyclohexane, R245fa are selected because of
their thermodynamic characterizes, which are suitable for low grade heat sources. The lower
critical point and the positive slope of the saturation line in T-S diagram are factors which
enforce the use of these working medium in thermodynamic cycles. In any case, the exact
operating temperature level of the heat source is the determining factor for the working fluid
selection. The use of recuperator [8] in the ORC is the key factor which makes the organic
fluid to perform better then water in its respective Rankine cycle.
In the literature, many studies of solar ORC power plants exist. The working fluid selection
is the main point in the majority of the studies and many factors are influence on it. In
medium temperature levels about 150oC to 200oC R245ca, R245fa, isobutene and isopentane
are usually investigated [9-10]. Delgado-Torres et al. [10] studied a solar ORC coupled with
a desalination system for electricity production of 0.5MWel with MM and R245fa. They
investigated the use of FP, ETC and PTC and finally proved that PTC and ETC lead to
higher performance. In the same temperature level, up to 200oC, Ungureşan et al. [11]
investigated the following working fluids: RC318, R245fa, R600a, acetone, MM and
cyclohexane. They stated that ETC lead to 10.23% system performance and PTC to 9.22%
because of the first can utilize higher part of the solar irradiation potential. The use of higher
temperature levels have been analyzed in other studies with different working fluid [12-13].
Casartelli et al. [13] investigated the performance of a 5MWel ORC power station with
parabolic trough collectors for various operating temperature levels. They concluded that
toluene is the most suitable working fluid, especially for temperature levels close to 400 oC.
The levelized cost of energy was calculated to 180 €/MWh, an accepting value for
renewable energy systems. In a recent analysis, Chacartegui et al. [14] compared toluene,
cyclohexane and siloxane D4 in a parabolic solar power plant. They concluded that toluene
is the most suitable working fluid energetically and financially, when the maximum possible
operation temperature of the heat transfer oil (Therminol VP-1) is about 400oC.
Cyclohexane follows with siloxane D4 to be the less attractive solution.
In study, a stand-alone solar ORC system is analyzed parametrically in order to determine
the combinations of the examined parameters which lead to optimum financial performance.
The simulation is dynamic with a developed numerical model. The thermodynamic
calculations have been made with Engineering Equator Solver (EES). Nine working fluids in
the ORC are studied thermodynamically and the most efficient are proceeded in the financial
investigation. In the financial study, different combinations of the collecting area and of the
storage tank volume are tested in order to achieve 1MWel electrical output. In any case, the
IRR is the optimization criterion because this financial parameter shows how efficient is
every investment. In the last part of the study, five commercial PTC are tested in order to
determine the most suitable solution energetically and financially.

2
2. Examined system and modelling assumptions
2.1 System description
The examined solar Power plant is illustrated in Figure. Parabolic trough collectors are the
used solar technology in the solar collector field. The heat transfer fluid is Therminol–VP1
in order to transfer the heat from collector to the ORC module. A well-insulated storage tank
is used in order the system to operate for many hours per day. The existing modelling is
based on a constant operation of the ORC module which is depended on the temperature of
the thermal oil in the inlet of the heat exchanger system.

Figure 1. The examined system

The thermal oil with temperature (T in) let the down part of the storage tank and enters to the
solar collector field. The temperature of the working fluid is getting greater and finally it
leaves from the collector filed with temperature (Tout). This temperature level is the high and
for this reason the collector outlet flow enters in the upper part of the storage tank. Inside the
storage tank, there are mixing zones and the temperature in the upper zones is higher
because of the lower density of the respective oil. In the other side of the tank, hot thermal
oil with temperature (Toil,in) lets the storage tank and enters to the ORC modules. This
temperature level is characterized as heat source temperature level and it is characteristic for
the cycle. The thermal oil transfer heat to the heat exchanger system and its temperature is
reduced to (Toil,out). This “cold” flow returns to the storage tank and the heat transfer circuit
close.
On the right part of figure 1, ORC is illustrated. This system is consisted form heat
exchanger system, turbine, recuperator, condenser and pump. The cycle starts from point 1
which is saturated fluid in the condenser outlet. This fluid has low pressure and enters into
the feeding pump in order to reach the high pressure of the system (point 2). The next part of
the ORC is the heating of the working fluid. The first heat is given by the recuperator; a
device which recirculates an amount of heat inside the system, reducing the heat output from
the condenser, increasing the thermal efficiency of the cycle. Heat fluid of state point 3

3
enters to the heat exchanger system and finally it let this device as superheated steam of
thermodynamic situation 4. The next step is the expansion in turbine up to low pressure
level. The outlet flow of the turbine is state point 5 which enters to recuperator giving
energy to the other stream. The final stage is the heat rejection to the environment via
condenser and the fluid reach to state point 1.

2.2 Assumptions
In order to simulate this system in a dynamic basis, many usual and realistic assumptions
have been taken into account [8,15-16]. First of all, the system nominal electricity power is
1 MWel for all the examined cases. The maximum temperature of the heat transfer fluid in
the inlet of the heat exchanger was set to 300oC, because this study aims to this temperature
region. The heat transfer fluid transfers its heat to the ORC system and its temperature is
reduced by 50K. The pinch point in the heat exchanger system was selected to be at 20K,
according to figure 2. Moreover, the same temperature difference of 20K was selected to the
recuperator of the ORC. The condensation temperature of the system is selected to be at
60oC in order the heat rejection to the environment to be made easily during the year. The
maximum pressure ratio in the turbine was restricted to 60 in order to reduce the cost and the
complexity of the turbine. Other assumptions in the ORC are the superheat of 10K, the
isentropic efficiency in the turbine is 85% and the maximum pressure which cannot be
exceed the 90% of the respective critical pressure for stability reasons. The storage tank
losses heat to the environment, something that taken into account by using a mean heat loss
coefficient. The value of this parameter is about 1 W/m2K and it includes radiation and
convection losses. All the assumptions of this study are summarized in table 1.

.
Figure 2. The Q-T heat exchange between thermal oil and working fluid

4
Table 1. Operation assumptions of the PTC and the ORC
Parameter Value Parameter Value
2
UL 1 W/m K Tcond 60 oC
ρL 820 kg/m3 ΔΤsh 10 oC
CpL 2300 J/kgK Pinch point 20 oC
ηis,T 85% ΔΤoil 50 oC
ηis,pump 70% Toil,max 300 oC
ηmotor 70% ΠΤ,max 60
ηmg 0.97% Pmax/Pcrit 0.9

The weather data of this analysis was taken from Meteonorm for Athens (Greece). The solar
energy potential varies among the year periods and for this reason the analysis is made
seasonally. More specifically, 4 typical days are taken into consideration, each representing
a different season of the year; one for winter, one for spring, one for summer and one for
autumn. The system operates for 310 days per year, having a theoretical maximum capacity
factor of 85%. Taking into account the cloudiness for every season [2], the system operates
all the summer (90 days), 85 days in autumn, 85 days in spring and 50 days in winter. It is
important to note that only solar beam irradiation is able to be utilized by parabolic trough
collectors because these collectors are imaging collectors with a specific sun-image in the
absorber. Figures 3 and 4 show the ambient temperature and the beam radiation delivered to
the collector aperture respectively for the four examined days. It is interesting to note that
the radiation curves in Figure 4 are not totally smooth in order to take into account the
possible cloudiness during the day.
35

30

25
Tam (oC)

20 summer
15 autumn
winter
10
spring
5

0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24
Day hours

Figure 3. Ambient temperature distribution for the four examined days

5
 800

Solar beam irradiation (W/m2)

700

600

500
summer
400
autumn
300
winter
200 spring
100

0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24
Day hours

Figure 4. Solar beam radiation delivered to the collector aperture during the four
examined days

3 Mathematical definitions and methodology

3.1 Collector field calculations
The available solar irradiation is calculated by using the collector aperture (Ac) and the
available solar irradiation which is the beam irradiation for PTC.

Qsolar  Ac  Gb , (1)

The useful energy that the thermal oil absorbs can be determined by the energy balance in its
volume, according to equation 2:

Q u  m  c p  Tout  Tin  , (2)

The thermal efficiency of the collectors is the ratio of the useful heat to the available solar
irradiation.

Qu
c  , (3)
Qsolar

The efficiency equation, which correlates the thermal efficiency with the operating
conditions, is used in this study. Below the efficiency equations for 5 commercial solar
collectors are given. In this main analysis, Eurotrough ET-150 is used and all the collectors
are compared in the last stage of this study.

Eurotrough ET-150 [17]

2
T T  T T 
 c  0.75  0.000045  Tin  Tam   0.039   in am   0.0003  Gb   in am  , (4)
 Gb   Gb 
6
Schott LS-2 [18]

 c  0.7859  0.000357  Tin  Tam   4.33  10 8  Tin  Tam 2 , (5)

Skytrough [19]

2
T T  T T 
 c  0.77  0.012217   in am   0.000416  Gb   in am  , (6)
 Gb   Gb 

Eurotrough II [20]

2
T T  T T 
 c  0.7408  0.0432   in am   0.000503  Gb   in am  , (7)
 Gb   Gb 

IST PTC system [15,21]

2
T T  T T 
 c  0.762  0.2125   in am   0.001672  Gb   in am  , (8)
 Gb   Gb 

The use of tracking is something vital for PTC. In this study, the collector axis was assumed
to be in N-S axis and tracking is horizontal in E-W axis. Equation 9 shows the solar incident
angle for every moment in this tracking system [15].

cos   cos 2 θ z   cos 2    sin 2   , (9)

According to theory, the greatest advantage of this arrangement is that very small shadowing
effects are encountered when more than one collector is used. These are present in the first
and last hours of the day.

3.2 Storage tank calculations

In the storage tank modelling, the mixing zones method was selected. In this methodology,
the tank is separated to isothermal horizontal zones and these zones exchanges mass and
energy. For every zone, one energy balance describes its thermal behavior. By solving all
together the differential equation of the storage tank, for every time step, the tank outlet
temperature levels are calculated. This methodology is well-established and it has been
applied in many studies [22].

3.3 ORC calculations

In this paragraph, the main equations which describe the ORC performance are given. The
electricity output is calculated as the net power in the generator minus the work spent in the
feeding pump. Equation 10 shows the net power output calculation:

m orc  w pump
Pel  η mg  m orc  h 4  h 5   , (10)
η mot

7
The heat input from thermal oil to the ORC module is given by the following equations.
Equation 11, 12 represent the energy balances in the organic fluid volume and in the thermal
oil volume respectively.

Qnet  morc  h 4  h 3  , (11)

Q net  m oil  cp oil  ΔΤ oil , (12)

Thermodynamic efficiency of the cycle is given by equation (13).

Pel
η orc  , (13)
Q net

Another important equation is the isentropic efficiency definition of the examined system.
This parameter is given in the following equation:

h4  h5
 is,T  , (14)
h4  h5'

The methodology for calculating the parameters of the system is given in figure 5. This
model was developed in EES (Engineering Equation Solver).

Figure 5. Calculation steps in the EES program

8
3.4 Energy system equations
The following equations are used for the energetic analysis of the system. The system
efficiency can be determined by direct way (eq. 15) and indirect way (16):

Eel
 tot  , (15)
E solar

 tot   c  orc  loss , (16)

The thermal loss coefficient of the tank is the ratio of the energy transferred to the fluid to
the useful energy from the collector, assuming that the temperature inside the tank is the
same in the start of two consecutive days.

E net
 loss  , (17)
Eu

The use of heat loss coefficient UL is an easy way to express and to calculate the heat losses
from storage tank. Equation 18 presents the respective calculations:

Eloss  Eu  Enet  Atan k  U L  Toil  Tamb  , (18)

The last important parameter is the capacity factor which shows is the ratio of the produced
electricity to the maximum possible if the systems operates all the year.

Eel
CF  , (19)
Pel  8760

3.5 Financial calculations

After determining the system performance, the calculation of basic financial indexes is
important in order to evaluate every investment. The first parameter is the net present values
which shows the net profit of the investment by taking into account all the project life and
the discount factor of the income.

E grid  K el  K O&M  Co
NPV  Co  k 1
N
, (20)
1  r k
The next important parameter is the internal rate of return (IRR) which shows the efficiency
of the investment. This parameter can be calculated by using equation 20. More specifically,
the discount factor which makes the NPV equal to zero is the IRR of the investment. The
last important financial index is the payback period which shows the years for covering the
initial investment cost. This can also be calculated by equation 20. More specifically, the
payback period is the number of years which lead to zero NPV.
The financial parameters of the present study are included in table 3 [23-26]. Many costa re
gives according to specific costs in order to take into account the size of the investment in
every case.

9
Table 3. Financial parameters of the analysis
Parameter Value Parameter Value
Ktank 1500 €/m3 Kc 230 €/m2
N 25 Kel 0.2 €/kWh
r 5% O&M 2% of capital cost
Korc 1800 €/kW Kmisc 0.3 M€

3.6 Methodology description

The first part of this study is the thermodynamic investigation of the working fluids. By
taking into account all the constraints and the assumption, the operational conditions for
every fluid are determined. The next step is the energetic and the financial evaluation of
every fluid in order to determine the optimum solution. In this step, there are two
optimization parameters; the collecting area and the storage tank volume. The optimum
system is the one with the highest IRR among the examined cases.

4. ORC investigation
In this paragraph, the thermodynamic performance of the ORC is presented. Nine working
fluids are examined by taking into account all the presented assumptions. Table 2 includes
the final results of this investigation. In every case, the maximum possible pressure was
taken into account for maximizing the thermal efficiency of the ORC. The constraints of
maximum pressure ratio, of the maximum pressure and of the pinch point in the heat
exchangers are included in the final results. The thermal oil temperature levels are also
calculated because these are important parameters for the simulation of the total system
which includes storage tank and solar collectors. It is important to state that the maximum
pressure ratio in the water case is selected to be 200 and not 60, because the technology
around this device is developed and well-established, fact that makes easy to achieve high
pressure ratios.
According to table 2, cyclohexane and toluene are the most efficient working mediums with
25.36% and 23.41% thermodynamic efficiency respectively. MM and water follow with
lower performance, while Isopentane and MD4M are less suitable working mediums. A key
factor in the analysis is the critical temperature of every working fluid. By selecting working
fluids with critical temperature close to the maximum operating temperature (300 oC), the
system exploits the available heat with optimum way, according to the results.
Figure 6 depicts the thermodynamic cycle for the working fluid with the higher
performance, the cyclohexane. This is the temperature-entropy diagram and this is the most
representative in order to observe the system irreversibilities. The saturation temperature is
close to the critical temperature and this is a very interesting result. Moreover, it is shown
that the state point 5 is far from the saturator line, fact that proves the importance of a
recuperator. The data for this figure were taken from EES.

10
Table 2. Simulation results of different working fluids
Fluid Pcrit(bar) Tcrit(oC) ηorc Toil,in(oC) Toil,out(oC) Tsat(oC) PH/PCrit ΠΤ
Cyclohexane 40.75 280.5 0.2536 295.6 245.6 259.1 0.764 60
Toluene 41.26 318.6 0.2341 270.7 220.7 223.9 0.2709 60
MM 19.39 245.5 0.2316 269.1 219.1 231.3 0.2316 60
Water 220.6 374.0 0.2155 298.7 248.7 250.2 0.1807 200
Isohexane 30.40 224.6 0.2125 252.8 202.8 217.0 0.8938 27
MDM 14.15 290.9 0.1957 234.9 184.9 184.8 0.1548 60
n-pentane 33.64 196.5 0.1800 226.4 176.4 188.7 0.8938 14
Isopentane 33.70 187.2 0.1714 218.3 168.3 179.6 0.8903 11
MD4D 8.775 380.1 0.1338 223.0 173.0 167.0 0.0086 60

Except the thermodynamic efficiency, the inlet oil temperature is a very important parameter
for the system performance. The lower temperature of the thermal oil leads to lower thermal
losses to the environment from the storage tank. Simultaneously, lower temperature in
thermal oil leads to higher solar collector efficiency; an extra factor for selecting a case with
lower heat source temperature. By taking into account the above analysis, it has no sense to
examine financially all the working fluids because only some of them present high interest.
Toluene and cyclohexane selected for further analysis because they are the most efficient
fluids. MM also selected because it is a usual working fluid in many cycles and it operates
with low thermal oil temperature. Moreover, water is selected because this is the
conventional working medium in Rankine cycles and the comparison among organic fluids
and water has a great interest in any case.

Figure 6. T-s diagram of the cyclohexane for the examined case

11
5. Energetic and financial evaluation
5.1 General results for the examined working fluids
In this paragraph, the financial evaluation results are presented. Four working fluids are
investigated; cyclohexane, toluene, water and MDM. The PTC model is Eurotrough ET-150
and its selection will be explained more in paragraph 6. For every examined working fluid, a
great variety of collecting area and storage tank volume combinations are investigated. More
specifically, the storage tank volume is analyzed by using the ratio of the collecting are to
storage tank volume (Ac/V) which is an important parameter in solar concentrating power
plants. This ratio varies a lot from study to stud with De Luca et al. [28] to conclude a value
close to 10m-1 and Maccari et al. [29] to 135m-1. Thus, this analysis was tank into account
ration in this range in order to cover all the possible optimum solutions. Figures 7 to 10
shows the IRR, the capacity factor, the thermal collector efficiency and the total system
efficiency for all the examined cases.
A very interesting result is that for all the examined working fluids, the IRR is maximized
when the ration (Ac/V) is close to 80m-1. For this reason this values was selected as the
optimum. Moreover, cyclohexane proved to be the most efficient working medium for
25000m2 giving IRR equal to 13.46%.
According to figure 7, every storage tank volume there is an optimum collecting area which
maximizes the IRR; a very interesting result which proves the necessity of an optimization
method. Figure 8 depicts that higher collecting are lead to higher capacity factor, because
more solar energy is delivered to the system increasing the operation hours of the ORC
module. On the other hand, greater collecting area leads to reduction in the solar thermal
efficiency and in system efficiency according to figures 9 and 10.

Figure 7. IRR as a function of the solar collector area and the area to storage tank
volume ratio

12
 Figure 8. Capacity factor as a function of the solar collector area and the area to
storage tank volume ratio

Figure 9. PTC efficiency as a function of the solar collector area and the area to storage
tank volume ratio

13
 Figure 10. System efficiency as a function of the solar collector area and the area to
storage tank volume ratio

5.2 Results for optimum ratio (Ac/V)

In this paragraph, the results for the optimum ratio of collecting area to storage tank volume
are presented. These results are included in the previous diagrams but here will be explained
better in two dimension figures.
Figure 11 illustrates the IRR variation for value collecting areas and for the 4 examined
working fluids. For all the range of examined collecting areas, cyclohexane leads to higher
IRR, with toluene, water and MDM to follow respectively. An important result is that the
maximum IRR is achieved for different collecting area in every fluid. The less efficient
fluids need higher collecting area in order to achieve maximum IRR. Specifically, higher
collecting area helps the system to operate more hours in order to produce more electricity
and to increase the income. Another important result is that for great collecting areas, all the
fluid tends to the same IRR. This result is acceptable, because after a great collecting area,
the thermodynamic efficiency is not affect the operation hours because there is plenty of
solar energy in the system.
Figure 12 shows the capacity factor for all the examined cases with ratio (Ac/V) equal to
80m-1. Capacity factor is an important financial index because it is related to electricity
production which determines the investment income by a direct way. Cyclohexane is the
fluid which leads to higher capacity factor with toluene, water and MDM to follow. The
curves are close to each other and for collecting areas over 30000m2, all together tend to a
maximum value. This maximum value is approximately 85% and practically it means that
the system operates for 310 days per year; the maximum possible operating days according
the assumption in paragraph 2.2 for seasonal operation.

14
The thermal efficiency of the solar field is depicted in figure 13 for all the examined fluids.
The thermal oil temperature level is the factor which determines the thermal efficiency of
the collector field. In the case of cyclohexane, the thermal oil temperature is high and thus
the solar thermal efficiency is the lowest among the examined fluids. On the other hand,
MDM selection leads to high solar thermal efficiency because the thermal oil temperature is
relative low in this case. The other two cases, water and toluene exhibit an intermediate solar
thermal performance.
In figure 14, the total system efficiency is presented for every working fluid as a function of
the collecting area and of the ratio Ac/V. Greater values of the collecting area lead to lower
overall system efficiency, something that is explained by the respective reduction in the
solar thermal efficiency according to figure 13. Cyclohexane is the working medium with
the higher system efficiency with the other fluid to follow. It is very interesting that after a
point, all the curves are getting one to each other and the reduction rate is getting greater.
This observation can be analyzed together with the previous one for the capacity factor (
Figure 12). Specifically, after the optimum collecting area the extra solar collectors lead to a
small increase in the produced energy or in the operation hours, fact that lead to low
energetic efficiency and to no profitable investments.

14

12

10
IRR (%)

8
Cyclohexane
6 Toluene

4 MDM
Water
2

0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000

Figure 11. IRR for the examined working fluid for different scale of solar field
(Ac/V=80 m-1)

15
 0,9
0,8
0,7
0,6
0,5 Cyclohexane
CF

0,4 Toluene
Water
0,3
MDM
0,2
0,1
0,0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
Ac (m2)
Figure 12. Capacity factor for the examined working fluid for different scale of solar
field (Ac/V=80 m-1)

0,75

0,70

0,65

0,60
Cyclohexane
ηc

0,55 Toluene
Water
0,50
MDM
0,45

0,40
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
Ac (m2)
Figure 13. PTC efficiency for the examined working fluid for different scale of solar
field (Ac/V=80 m-1)

16
 0,18

0,17
Cyclohexane
0,16 Toluene
0,15 Water
MDM
ηtot

0,14

0,13

0,12

0,11

0,10
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
Ac (m2)
Figure 14. Total system efficiency for the examined working fluid for different scale of
solar field (Ac/V=80 m-1)

5.2 Discussion of the thermoeconomic results

The evaluation of the presented results is very important in order to extrude useful
conclusions. Table 4 includes the data for the optimum operation conditions of each working
fluid. It is proved that energetic and financial performances are respectively with the highest
thermodynamic efficiency to lead to higher IRR. Cyclohexane selection leads to 13.46%
IRR, while toluene selection leads to 12.71%. The storage tank volume and the collecting
areas are similar for all the working fluids. An important result is that the optimum
collecting area is lower for the working fluids with higher thermodynamic efficiency. This
result is based on the lower demand of heat input, from the sun, in order to produce
electricity. Moreover, in the optimum case, the total system efficiency is around 15% which
is a satisfying value for solar thermal power plants and the optimum solution financially is
also energetically valuable.
Table 4. Summary of financial analysis
Fluid ηorc (%) Toil,in (oC) Ac (m2) V (m3) IRR (%) ηc (%) ηtot (%)
Cyclohexane 25.36 295.6 25000 313 13.46 61.44 15.08
Toluene 23.41 270.7 26000 325 12.71 62.86 14.32
Water 21.55 298.7 29000 363 11.49 62.00 12.97
MDM 19.57 234.9 31000 388 10.84 64.22 12.27

Table 5 summarizes the final results for the optimum case of cyclohexane. The net present
value (NPV) is calculated to 8.34 M€, the initial investment cost to 8.16 M€ and the payback
period to about 9 years. Figure 15 shows the payback period variation for the examined
collecting areas and for the ratio Ac/V equal to 80m-1. It is interesting that the payback
period is minimum for the collecting area which maximizes the IRR; a results which proves
that the optimization of these two financial indexes is leading to the same optimum results.

17
Table 5. Energetic and economic parameters of the optimum system (Cyclohexane)
Parameter Value Parameter Value
2
Αc 25000 m IRR 13.46 %
3
VT 310 m NPV 8.34 M€
o
Toil,in 295.6 C Payback Period 9.01 years
ηc 61.44 % Capital Cost 8.16 M€
ηtot 15.08 % Eel 24.0 TJ
ηloss 96.82 % Enet 94.8 TJ
ηorc 25.36 % Eu 97.9 TJ
CF 76.23 % Esolar 159.4 TJ

25
Payback Period (years)

20

15

10

0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
Ac (m2)
Figure 15. Payback period of the investment for different solar filed values for
Cyclohexane (Ac/V=80 m-1)

6. Evaluation of different PTCs

The last investigation in this study is the collector selection. In the previous analysis,
Eurotrough ET-150 was the examined PTC. Now other 4 commercial collectors are tested in
order to determine which the most suitable solution is financially. Different specific costs
are taken into account for every collector, according to literature data [26-27]. The thermal
efficiency of the examined collectors is presented in figure 16 which is created by plotting
equations 4 to 8. Table 6 includes the final results of the analysis. For all the collectors,
cyclohexane was selected as working medium and the ratio of collecting area to storage tank
volume was selected to be 80m-1. The collecting area is the only parameters that are
analyzed parametrically in order to determine the maximum IRR in every case.
The most efficient collectors have greater specific cost and this situation makes this study
interesting. According the final results, the initial selection of Eurotrough ET-150 is the
most suitable for the present study case. Schott LS-2 lead to better energetic results but its
high investment cost makes it the second choice financially. Skytrough and Eurotrough II
lead to feasible systems, while the use of IST PTC system lead to a non-profitable solution.

18
 0,9

0,8

0,7

0,6 schott LS-2

0,5 eurotrough ET-150

ηc

0,4 SKYTROUGH

0,3 eurotrough II

0,2 IST PTC

0,1

0,0
0,0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1,0
(Tin-Tam)/Gb

Figure 16. Efficiency curve of tested collectors

Table 6. Comparison of different collectors
Collector Κc (€/m2) nc (%) Αc (m2) IRR (%) CF ηtot (%)
Schott LS-2 250 64.17 24000 13.05 0.7654 15.78
Eurotrough ET-150 230 61.44 25000 13.46 0.7624 15.08
Skytrough 210 56.21 27000 13.32 0.7524 13.79
Eurotrough II 200 50.14 30000 12.36 0.7450 12.29
IST PTC system 180 40.27 21000 8.36 0.4172 9.83

6. Conclusions
This study is a thermoeconomic investigation of a solar power plant powered by parabolic
trough collectors. The nominal power if 1MWel and the maximum heat source temperature
was set to 300oC. Nine working fluids were investigated thermodynamically. Finally,
cyclohexane, toluene, water and MDM were selected as the most interesting and they
analyzed financially. In this analysis a two parametric optimization analysis is made in order
to maximize the internal rate or return (IRR). An interesting result is that the optimum
solutions are given for (Ac/V) ratio equal to 80m-1 for all the examined working fluids and
for this reason this case was investigated extensively. The optimum case is the use of
cyclohexane in the ORC module with 25000m2 PTC and a storage tank of 313m3 in order to
achieve IRR equal to 13.46% and total system efficiency around 15%. The payback period
is about 9 years in this case, an accepting and attractive result.
Another important result is that for high collecting areas, all the working mediums tend to
give similar performance because there is plenty of solar energy and the variations in the
thermodynamic efficiency are not affecting the total performance. Moreover, for high
collecting areas, the capacity factor towards to the maximum possible value of 85%, a result
which is based on the high amount of captured solar energy. The increase in collecting area
reduces the solar thermal efficiency and consequently the overall system efficiency.

19
Furthermore, according to the final investigation among 5 commercial PTC, Eurotrough ET-
150 proved to be the most profitable solution, because this collector combines high
efficiency and reasonable investment cost.

Acknowledgments
The first author would like to thank Onassis Foundation for its financial support

Nomenclature
AC Collecting area, m2
Co Capital cost, €
CF Capacity factor
E Energy, J
Gb Solar beam radiation, W/m2
IRR Internal rate of return, %
K Specific cost, €/kWh
N years of investment
p pressure, bar
Pel electrical power, kW
P.P. Pinch Point temperature difference, K
r discount factor, %
s specific entropy, kJ/kgK
T temperature, °C
UL Heat losses coefficient of tank, W/m2 K
w specific work, kJ/kg
x vapour quality
Greek symbols
δ declination angle
η efficiency
θ angle of incidence
θz zenith angle
ΠT Turbine pressure ratio
ρ density, kg/m3
ω hour angle
Subscripts
am ambient
c collector
crit critical
el electric

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etc other costs
H high
in inlet
is isentropic
L thermal oil
loss thermal loss
max maximum
min minimum
mg mechanical & generator
mot motor
net net from losses
oil thermal oil
out outlet
O&M Operation and maintenance
pump working fluid pump
sat saturation
solar solar energy
T Turbine
tank storage tank
tot total
u useful
Abbreviations
IRR Internal Rate of Return
NPV Net Present Value
ORC Organic Rankine Cycle
PTC Parabolic Trough Collector

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