Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101716

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Ain Shams Engineering Journal

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Performance enhancement of parabolic trough collector solar thermal

power plants with thermal energy storage capability
R.P. Praveen a,⇑, Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli b
a
Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Majmaah University, AlMajmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia
b
Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Majmaah University, AlMajmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper proposes a fuzzy non-linear programming based optimisation approach using Genetic algo-
Received 30 April 2021 rithm to enhance the performance of commercial parabolic trough collector concentrated solar thermal
Revised 21 November 2021 power plants with thermal energy storage capability. The proposed optimisation approach, unlike con-
Accepted 15 January 2022
ventional methods, considers three plant performance parameters: capacity factor, plant efficiency,
and levelized cost of energy for arriving at optimal plant performance. By properly sizing the PTC plant
with respect to plant efficiency, thermal energy storage capacity, capacity factor, and levelized cost of
Keywords:
electricity, even better performance levels can be achieved. For analysis purpose and to validate the effi-
Annual energy
Capacity factor
ciency of the proposed approach, three representative locations in Saudi Arabia: Yanbu, Abha, and
Concentrated solar power Dawadmi were considered—wherein the design of a 100 MW commercial parabolic trough collector solar
LCOE thermal power plant is optimised. The results showed that the proposed optimization approach when
Fuzzy membership applied to commercial parabolic trough collector plants with thermal energy storage capability can
Genetic algorithm achieve superior plant efficiency of the order of 16.53% and 17.42% and with a capacity factor greater than
Parabolic trough collector 60%. The findings of the study has been validated with the help of operational parameters of the commer-
Plant efficiency cially operated Andasol-1, La Florida, and Aste 1A parabolic trough collector concentrated solar power
plants. The results confirm the efficacy of the proposed optimization approach as it achieved superior
plant efficiency. This will put decision makers in better position while choosing the ideal solar thermal
technology for a particular location. This research work will help augment the competitiveness and effi-
cacy of parabolic trough collector concentrated solar power technology and prompt policymakers to
increase their share in the global renewable energy mix.
Ó 2022 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction urgent need to reduce fossil fuel dependency for commercial

Energy demands soar against the backdrop of rising population
and growing economies. Scientists estimate a 50% increase in
worldwide energy consumption in 2030 and 70% to 100% in 2050
[1]. Non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels are fast depleting
and are facing price volatilities. Not to mention that they are caus-
ing irreversible damage to the environment. Thus, there is an
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: praveen.r@mu.edu.sa (R.P. Praveen).
Peer review under responsibility of Ain Shams University.
Production and hosting by Elsevier
power generation due to the high carbon emission rate, which
leads to environmental issues such as global warming. The UN Cli-
mate Change Conference (COP26) held at Glasgow in November
2021 urges countries to ‘come forward with ambitious 2030 emis-
sions reductions targets that align with reaching net zero by the
middle of the century.’ To achieve this, countries will need to accel-
erate the phasing-out of coal and encourage investment in renew-
ables, among other measures.
Relying on abundant renewable energy sources such a solar and
wind energy is an excellent alternative to conventional power gen-
eration methods. It also addresses the predicaments associated
with growing energy needs, especially for nations in the Middle
East, where there is the availability of ample sunlight.
Energy from solar radiations can be harnessed to either thermal
or electrical (direct) via Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Photo-
voltaic (PV) technology, respectively. While the energy generated

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2022.101716
2090-4479/Ó 2022 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
R.P. Praveen and Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli
Nomenclature
PiðactualÞ Actual incident solar power on mirrors
hi Angle between the normal to ith mirror element and
incident solar rays
gcollector Solar Collector efficiency
Pthabsorber Incident thermal power on the absorber tube
Aref Reference mirror aperture area to generate rated power
gabsorber Absorber Efficiency
Pthhtf;d Thermal power transferred from HTF to heat exchanger
at design conditions
gstorage Storage heat exchanger efficiency
Pgross;d Rated gross power
Egross;actual Gross electrical energy generated
Egrid;net Annual electrical energy supplied to grid
Ai Aperture area of the ith mirror element
N Number of mirrors
goptical Optical efficiency of mirror
Aactual Actual aperture area of the mirror
Pthhtf Thermal power transferred to HTF
directly via PV plants can be stored in batteries, CSP technologies
utilise Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems to store the energy.
The TES mechanisms can meet the peak electricity load demands
even after sunset. Leveraging even 1% of the land receiving ade-
quate solar radiation for CSP plants would give electricity output
that would be higher than the global production during 2000 [1].
In the context of environmental benefits, each solar field square
meter would prevent the release of 200–300 kg of CO2 annually [2].
CSP technology basically functions by concentrating the sun’s
radiations towards receiver pipes that heat up the Heat Transfer
Fluid (HTF) contained within the pipes. The HTF then transfers
the thermal energy to be (ideally) leveraged by steam-based Rank-
ine cycle systems. The CSP plants’ performance can be augmented
or optimised by improvements in TES, HTFs, and, more impor-
tantly, the methods with which the solar radiations are concen-
trated. Additionally, CSP technologies show promising potential
in regions with high Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI). As such, coun-
tries in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, are in an advanta-
geous position to tap energy from the CSP plants [3].
2. Parabolic trough collectors (PTC) as a sought-after CSP
technology
Based on modes of harnessing solar radiations, CSP technologies
can be classified to four main systems: parabolic trough collectors
(PTC), Linear Fresnel Reflector, power tower or solar tower (ST),
and dish systems. The PTC and Linear Fresnel Reflectors are line-
focus systems stretching linearly across the field—with the latter
using mirrors, and the former, curved mirrors—to focus sunlight
on a receiver. Power tower and Dish systems are point-focused sys-
tems that use curved mirrors and heliostats, respectively, to focus
sunlight on the receiver. For ST, the receivers are mounted on a
tower; they are also called central receiver systems.
2.1. The potential of CSP technologies worldwide
There are currently 32 operational PTC CSP plants globally with
TES capacity at 50 MW or above. Strikingly, 20 are in Spain, 5 in
South Africa, 2 each in Morocco and the USA, and 1 each in China,
Israel, and Kuwait. Among them, only 8 Operational PTC plants
have capacities of 100 MW or above. The TES capacities of
50 MW PTC plants typically range from 7 to 9 h, while for plants
2
Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101716
EhtesðmaxÞ Maximum thermal energy storage capacity under de-
sign conditions
htes Thermal energy storage hours
gpowerblock;d Efficiency of power block at design capacity
Pthpowerblock;d
Thermal power available at power block during design
conditions
gse Solar to electric conversion efficiency
Abbreviation
PTC Parabolic Trough Collector
HTF Heat Transfer Fluid
TES Thermal Energy Storage
SM Solar Multiple
DNI Direct normal irradiance
SAM System Advisor model
CF Capacity Factor
LCOE Levelized Cost of Energy
with capacities greater than 100 MW, TES capacities range
between 2 and 7 h. According to [4], the installed solar energy
capacity of the world, as of 2018, stands at 485.826 GW, of which
the Middle East share is just about 3.181 GW. In context to CSP, the
global installed capacity stands at just 5.469 GW, from which the
Middle East’s share is just about 156 MW. At present, the only
operational PTC plants in the Middle East are Shams 1 in UAE
(100 MW, operational since 2013), Waad Al Shamal in KSA
(50 MW, commissioned in 2018.), and Shagaya in Kuwait
(50 MW, commissioned in 2019). Israel has recently added another
122 MW CSP plant —The Ahalim Power Plant. In parallel, Kuwait
has installed another 50 MW CSP plant—the Shagaya CSP. There
is a huge scope globally in leveraging CSP to harness solar energy,
especially in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia—whose three location the authors considered for
validating the efficiency of the proposed performance enhance-
ment methods of PTC plants— has rich potential to extract power
from solar and wind resources. The Saudi Arabian research facility
(K.A.CARE,) data indicates that most provinces in the Kingdom
receive high DNI and therefore serve as suitable areas for building
CSP plants. Based on a preliminary literature review, it is found
that the western and southern provinces of the Kingdom are the
most promising sites for the installation of CSP plants, followed
by the central region. It is therefore very essential to ensure the
optimization and performance enhancement of PTC plants to
broaden the scope of the technology’s potential in the area, and
in enabling policy makers to rightfully choose it over other CSP
topologies.
Looking at CSP projects currently under construction/develop-
ment, it is evident that countries prefer to tap energy from CSP sys-
tems, mainly from PTC and ST. As such, accurately assessing the
proper optimization of a PTC plant’s design is imperative. This
paper proposes that by properly sizing the PTC plant with respect
to plant efficiency, TES capacity, capacity factor, and LCOE, even
better performance levels can be achieved. The following literature
review explores the various means for optimising PTC plants.
3. Literature review of parabolic trough collector CSP
technologies
Much has been reviewed in literature about the design and
functional aspects of CSP and PTC plants. The authors reviewed
R.P. Praveen and Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli
various design parameters, mathematical and simulation models
used to design PTC solar power plants in [5]. The various methods
for enhancing the heat transfer properties for PTC CSP technology
are highlighted in [6]. The overall development of CSP technology
research is presented in [7], where future research trends in the
field have also been highlighted.
The authors in [8] presented the prospects and suitability of
installing CSP technology in Tunisia. The performance of a
50 MW PTC power plant was presented for a location in Tunisia,
and its energy efficiency was found to be 15%. The various techni-
cal options to bring down the cost of annual energy produced by
CSP plants in arid regions are investigated in [9]. The authors’ opti-
misation approach is based on full load hour variations and solar
multiple of TES while using different heat transfer fluid. They con-
cluded that the 100MWe CSP plant performed optimally while
selecting the solar multiple as 2 and 7.5 as the full load hours of
TES. The plant’s annual electrical energy is 410.281 GWhe, with a
capacity factor of 44.096% and an overall energy efficiency of
15.79%.
The thermal performance of PTC CSP plants intended for six dif-
ferent climatic regions in Morocco has been assessed in [10] with
the help of simulation results. A physical model was developed
to assess the technical-level feasibility of the intended PTC plants.
Liu et al. [11] investigated the recent advancements in high-
temperature TES systems used for CSP systems. Esmail et al. [12]
presented the analysis of a PTC plant’s techno-economic perfor-
mance in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and the study revealed that as
the size of solar field increases, the ratio of cost of PTC to solar field
size comes down.
PTC plants require large amounts of HTF to operate, making it
crucial to choose the ideal HTF materials that facilitate maximum
plant performance with minimal cost. As such, the desirable char-
acteristics of an ideal HTF are high boiling and low melting points
and vapour pressure (<1 atm) at high temperatures, along with
lower viscosity, higher thermal conductivity, and heat capacity
for storing energy. The HTF should also be less corrosive with the
metal containers used to contain it [13]. The authors also suggest
that molten-salt-based HTF is suitable for high-temperature PTC
plants due to their high boiling point and thermal stability temper-
ature (operating range.) Molten-salt-based HTF also has relatively
lower melting points, which makes them even better suited. Also,
the authors highlight the importance of heat transfer enhancement
materials such as graphite composites and metal foams, which
enhance the intended performance of HTF [14].
When it comes to TES technologies that augment the capabili-
ties of CSPs, authors in [15] assert that thermo- economic analysis
is crucial in the determination of TES configuration. A typical TES
setup consists of a heat transfer mechanism, storage medium,
and containment system. The storage media can be sensible-,
latent-, or thermochemical-based. The authors suggest that com-
bining various means of storage can help attain better efficacy of
power plants. PTC’s thermal efficiency can be improved by opti-
mising absorber materials, the coatings on them, and choosing
the right HTF [16]. Furthermore, the length of collectors and the
diameter of absorbers are among the parameters that can com-
pletely influence the PTC system’s efficiency.
Mohamed Chafie et al. conducted an experimental performance
that investigates PTC plants under a typical Tunisian climate. The
team built and tested the PTC under ASHRAE 93–1986 standard
and demonstrated that collector efficiencies are in good agreement
with what is mentioned in literature [17]. They also show that
improved PTC efficiencies happen at higher useful heat gain and
solar radiation. Mohammed S. Al-Soud et al., while describing the
prototype of a CSP plant in Egypt, throws light on the cooling tech-
nologies for the plants’ working fluid [18]. The authors mention
that air or dry cooling, although more costly and less efficient than
3
Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101716
wet cooling—where water is used—is preferable for CSP plants, as
they are located in areas where water is not readily available.
The possibility of using a combination of dry and wet cooling set
up tends to be more cost-effective than using the former alone.
Govindaraj Kumaresan et al. in [19] conducted the performance
study of a PTC plant with TES and deduced that a PTC plant’s
instantaneous efficiency depends on the useful heat gain (which
depends on the HTF) and beam radiation. The authors mention that
minimising heat loss is crucial to achieving a better-performing
PTC. An effective methodology for the sizing of solar fields for
PTC technology along with thermal storage and hybridisation is
described by authors in [20]. In context to thermal efficiency, the
use of Nanofluids as HTF has shown to increase thermal efficiency;
however, the cost factor is a prominent drawback of the substance.
Edouard González-Roubaud et al. assessed the usage of molten
salts with steam as a means for TES in CSP plants [21]. The authors
establish that steam accumulator TES systems are best for buffer
storage.
Men Wirz et. al., through a comprehensive 3D heat transfer
model [22], analyzes the potential for improvement of a typical
PTC system. Idealizing selective coating’s optical properties, glass
envelop and concentrator mirrors, up to theoretical limits resulted
in a 6.8–7.3 percent improvement in thermal efficiency. The study
found that combining all idealizations would increase efficiency by
up to 23 percent. F. Chen et. al., discuss the design of a novel linear
cavity absorber for PTC systems [23]. Rectangular fins are used at
the back of absorbing surface for improving the thermal efficiency.
From the authors’ detailed literature review, it was found that
most research works focus on the techno-economic analysis of a
PTC CSP plant for a certain location or concentrates on improving
the design of various system components within the PTC CSP plant.
This paper aims to propose a new optimisation approach for sizing
PTC CSP plant with TES capacity for any given location by consid-
ering various performance parameters simultaneously such as
plant efficiency, capacity factor, and LCOE. This approach can
ensure optimal values of full load hours of TES and solar multiple
so that the PTC CSP plant performance can be superior to that of
the operational PTC plants. More importantly, this would better
the chances of PTC plants being preferred for a particular location
instead of other CSP topologies. The scope of this research there-
fore goes beyond optimization to performance enhancement and
can lead to induction of more share of renewables into the energy
mix of world countries. The following sections respectively
describe the multi-objective optimization for the performance
enhancement of a PTC plant, followed by the system description
and design of a PTC plant, mathematical modelling, results and dis-
cussion, and conclusion.
4. Multi-objective optimization
The engineering design and development of any product or pro-
cess has to fulfill multiple objectives such as cost minimization,
efficiency maximization, quality maximization, while satisfying
certain constraints. Sometimes, objective functions are conflicting
in nature. It is therefore essential to simultaneously optimize all
the conflicting function at once to arrive a solution. Simultaneous
optimization of more than one objective function is known as
multi-objective optimization [24]. Mathematically, multi-
objective optimization problem is represented as
F k ðX Þ ¼ ½F 1 ðX Þ; F 2 ðX Þ;    ::; F k ðX Þ
subject to constraints g j ðXÞ  0 where j ¼ 1; 2; ::; j and k  2
While optimizing multi-objective functions, one may find many
sets of solutions where one solution may dominate other. Decision
maker needs to identify non-dominated solutions known as Parent
R.P. Praveen and Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli
front and choose a compromise solution satisfying all the objective
functions to the extent possible based on a predetermined crite-
rion. Literature indicates researchers [25] have proposed different
criterion to arrive a compromise solution for multi-objective opti-
mization problems. The criterion such as family of distance func-
tion, deviation, sum squares of relative deviation function, and
desirability function weighted objective function etc., to obtain a
compromise solution. In this paper, the performance enhancement
of PTC solar thermal power plant comprises two objective func-
tions—maximizing plant efficiency and minimizing LCOE under
design constraint of TES. To solve simultaneous optimization of
the two objective functions, authors used the fuzzy programing
technique [26] as a strategy through genetic algorithm (GA). First,
optimal solution of each objective function subject to the con-
straint is obtained using GA and upper and lower limits are deter-
mined. Based on the limits, fuzzy membership of each objective
function k is estimated and compromise solution is obtained by
max min k [27] i.e., maximizing fuzzy memberships of smallest
membership function of all objective functions subject to the given
constraints.
4.1. Genetic algorithm for constrained optimization problems
To solve an objective function within the given constraints, pen-
alty function approach is employed through genetic algorithm.
Based on concept of biological evolutionary theory, GA is presumed
to perform a global search in a local minimum. Instead of working
with a single solution in each iteration, GA works with many solu-
tions known as population. The working cycle of GA starts with a
population chosen at random. Thereafter, fitness value, which is
inverse of an energy function of each member is calculated. One
iteration in GA employ three operators namely reproduction,
crossover and mutation to generate a new population and fitness
value is calculated and assessed for discontinuation. One iteration
of these three operators is known as a generation in GA terminol-
ogy. Further details of GA can be found in [28]. Basically, GA is
meant for optimization of unconstrained problems. Researchers
[29] proposed different approaches to solve constrained optimiza-
tion problems in GA. One approach is penalty term method,
wherein, penalty values are added to the objective function. The
objective function is optimized in such a way that if any constraint
is violated then associated penalty term values is considered as
very high else zero. GA will choose that solution which can opti-
mize the objective function after satisfying all the constraints.
5. Design of the parabolic trough collector CSP plant with TES
capacity
Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram for a PTC CSP plant having TES
capability. The functional units of the PTC CSP plant are the solar
field collector system, power block, and TES system. The PTC on
the solar field will focus the incident solar rays on a receiver which
is mounted on the top of the collector unit. The receiver tube will
carry an HTF which absorbs this heat wherein the thermal energy
is used to generate power using the Rankine cycle.
One of the system’s main features is that it includes the TES sys-
tem (two-tank system) which can store the thermal energy and
enable continuous operation of the power block during cloud cover
conditions or in the absence of sunlight. In this research, Hitec
solar salt will be used as both the HTF as well as the storage med-
ium in the two-tank system. The design characteristics of the 100
MWe PTC CSP plant design proposed in this research work are
explained in the following section.
4
Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101716
5.1. Configuration of the proposed PTC CSP plant design
Table 1 shows the solar collector Luz LS-3 Collector configura-
tion utilized for the proposed 100 MW CSP plant design. The ther-
mal receiver used for the design is Royal Tech CSP RTUVR 70 M4.
The outer and inner diameter of the absorber tube is 0.07 m and
0.066 m respectively. The design details of the thermal receiver
for the proposed CSP plant design are listed in Table 2.
The initial design of a PTC CSP plant with fixed values of full
load hours of TES and solar multiple is presented in [30]. This
design was later optimised with respect to two parameters: annual
energy generated by the plant and Levelized cost of energy (LCOE).
However, even this kind of approach cannot predict the optimum
configuration of PTC CSP plant that is to be installed in a particular
location, according to its DNI potential. Commercial PTC CSP plants
are expected to operate at optimal plant efficiency and capacity
factor while being cost-competitive to other CSP technologies, such
as ST Plants. The novel optimisation approach presented in this
work considers the optimisation of four technical parameters
simultaneously: plant efficiency, capacity factor, LCOE and full load
hours of TES. The design equations that are used to determine the
various performance parameters of the CSP plant design are pre-
sented below:
Total incident solar power on the mirrors can be found as,
X
N
PiðactualÞ ¼ DNI  Ai  coshi ð1Þ
i¼1
Therefore, the solar collector efficiency, which is the ratio
between solar power incident on the mirrors to the actual power
that the mirrors can capture, is given by,
X
N X
N
gcollector ¼ Ai  cos hi = Ai ð2Þ
i¼1 i¼1
The optical efficiency of the mirror, ƞoptical is given by,
Incident Solar Power on the absorber tubes
goptical ¼ ð3Þ
Incident Solar Power on the mirrors
The incident thermal power on the absorber tube is calculated
by the following equation
Pthabsorber ¼ gcollector  goptical  DNI  Aactual ð4Þ
where Aactual is the actual aperture area for mirrors and is given by,
Aactual ¼ Aref  SM ð5Þ
In (5), Aref is the reference mirror aperture area required to gen-
erate rated power, and SM is the solar multiple, which is the ratio
between the actual aperture area to the reference aperture area.
The thermal power transferred to HTF can be found by the follow-
ing equation
Pthhtf ¼ P thabsorber  gabsorber ð6Þ
For the TES, if htes is the desired storage hours, then the maxi-
mum thermal energy that the system can receive under design
conditions can be found as,
Pthhtf ;d  htes
EhtesðmaxÞ ¼ ð7Þ
gstorage
The efficiency of the power block can be increased with higher
capacities, which is one of the main reasons why CSP plants with
100 MW and above are considered ideal.
The energy efficiency of the power block for design capacity can
be estimated as,
R.P. Praveen and Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101716

Sun

Hot salt tank

Cold salt tank

Parabolic Heat
mirrors Exchanger Turbine
Solar Field
Steam
Generator
Generator

Condensor Air cooled

condensor

Fig. 1. Parabolic Trough Collector CSP System.

Table 1 Egross;actual
Capacity Factor ¼ ð9Þ
Luz LS-3 collector design. Pgross;d  8760
Parameter Value
The annual solar-to-electric conversion efficiency (gse Þ of the
Reflective aperture area per SCA 545 m2 plant is the ratio between annual electrical energy delivered to
Aperture Width 5.75 m
Length of Collector Assembly 100 m
the grid to total incident solar energy that the collectors receive.
Number of modules per assembly 12
Length of a single module 8.3333 m E
Focal length 2.11 m gse ¼ Pgrid;net ð10Þ
Aactual  ðDNI  cos hÞ
Mirror reflectivity 0.935
Optical efficiency at design 0.8711 For the purpose of analysis, three KSA locations having good
DNI potential: Yanbu, Abha, and Dawadmi, have been selected.
The following section details the new optimisation approach
Table 2 adopted to determine the optimal solar multiple values and full
Design details of the Royal Tech CSP RTUVR 70 M4 Thermal
load hours of TES for the proposed 100 MW PTC CSP plant that
Receiver and HTF properties.
offers superior plant efficiency and reduced LCOE. The performance
Parameter Value analysis of the developed design is analyzed using System Advisor
Absorber Tube Inner Diameter 0.066 m Model (SAM) [31], which has been validated by Price [32] and
Absorber Tube Outer Diameter 0.07 m developed by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Glass envelope inner diameter 0.1196 m
Glass envelope outer diameter 0.125 m
HTF Type Hitec Solar Salt
Design Loop Outlet temperature 293 °C 6. Mathematical modeling and optimization
Design Loop Inlet Temperature 525 °C
Boiler Operating Pressure 86 bar
A GA approach for constrained optimization is coded in C-
1anguage. This coded generalized version can handle the solution
up to a population size of 50 and over variable range of 10. The
Pgross;d
gpower block;d ¼ ð8Þ algorithm has a crossover probability of 0.80 and mutation proba-
Pthpower block;d bility considered as 0.05 and suitable to handle any number of con-
straints. The fitness function is always preferred for minimizing the
Therefore, the Capacity Factor of the PTC CSP plant can be calcu-
energy function. The user of this code can interactively change con-
lated as,
straints and objective functions without any difficulty as it was
5
R.P. Praveen and Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli
written as a separate routine. The methodology to solve multi-
objective problem is shown in the flow chart Fig. 2.
Mathematical model for optimization of PTC solar thermal
power plant with TES capability comprises, optimization of plant
efficiency and LCOE functions subject to design variable constraint
TES are as given below:
maximize plant efficiency
F1 ðXÞ ¼ 0:07999x2 þ 1:575x þ 8:78
minimize LCoE cost of energy function
F2 ðXÞ ¼ 0:06841x2  0:85x þ 8:77
subject to the design variable TES (XÞ constraint
0  x  12
The above two functions was solved by following the sequential
procedure shown in the flow chart Fig. 2. In constrained optimiza-
tion while maximizing and minimizing an objective using GA,
energy function reached to minimum within in 100 iterations.
The convergence of energy function with iterations are shown in
the Fig. 3.
Start
, ers to estimate the range of SM and full load hours of TES that can
Yes
No
, tion of plant efficiency for different TES capabilities in Yanbu for an
, ,
End
Fig. 2. Flowchart for solving multi-objective optimization problem.
Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101716
For the location in Yanbu, compromise solution is found at TES
variable ½X   = 10 and corresponding plant efficiency 16.5% and
LCOE as 7.1 cents/kWh. The following section details the perfor-
mance analysis and optimization of the PTC plant design with ther-
mal energy storage capability for all the three representative
locations considered in this work.
7. Performance analysis and optimisation of the CSP plant
ð11Þ
design
The first step in the PTC CSP plant design analysis for a particu-
ð12Þ lar location is to zero in on the ideal values of solar multiple and
full load hours of TES according to the DNI potential of the regions.
For designing PTC CSP plants with TES capacity, it is a known fact
that the solar multiple (SM) value has to be greater than one, as an
SM value of one is meant to feed the power block only with just
sufficient energy to operate at its rated capacity. But it is equally
important to incorporate sufficient TES capacity in the design to
avoid wastage of energy during peak solar incidence hours. At
the same time, an SM value greater than the DNI potential of the
location will escalate the LCOE of the plant, as the annual energy
output from the plant falls below the installed solar field capacity.
So it is highly important to select an ideal value of SM and TES
capacity for achieving optimal plant performance in a said location.
For this purpose, rather than fixing a particular value of solar mul-
tiple, it is ideal to have a detailed analysis of LCOE and Plant effi-
ciency variation against solar multiple for different TES
capacities. Figs. 4-6 show the Solar multiple vs. LCOE characteris-
tics for three different KSA locations: Yanbu, Abha, and Dawadmi.
Figs. 4-6 show that for TES capacity of 8 to 12 h, there is a signifi-
cant reduction in LCOE. Even though this analysis helps the design-
be considered for the location, it does not reflect on the plant’s
solar to electric conversion efficiency.
The plant’s solar to electric conversion efficiency also needs to
be considered for optimisation, as there will be significant thermal
losses in CSP plants with higher TES capability. Hence, the variation
of solar to electric conversion efficiency or plant efficiency versus
SM for different TES capabilities also have to be analysed to deter-
mine the optimal combination of SM and full load hours of TES.
Figs. 7-9 display the variation of plant efficiency with SM for differ-
ent TES capacities in Yanbu, Abha, and Dawadmi, respectively.
From the figures, it can be observed that the PTC CSP plant’s
efficiency in all the locations increases to a peak value and there-
after comes down with variations in SM. Thus, for Yanbu, an SM
value of 2.6 is chosen for further analysis as it is found to offer
the highest efficiency of 16.53%. Fig. 10 shows LCOE and the varia-
SM value corresponding to 2.6. From the figure, it is clear that if the
Fig. 3. Convergence of the Energy function.
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R.P. Praveen and Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101716

Fig. 4. Solar Multiple and LCOE plot for different TES hours in Yanbu.

Fig. 5. Solar Multiple and LCOE plot for different TES hours in Abha.

Fig. 6. Solar Multiple and LCOE plot for different TES hours in Dawadmi.

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R.P. Praveen and Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101716

Fig. 7. Solar Multiple and Plant efficiency plot for different TES hours in Yanbu.

Fig. 8. Solar multiple and Plant efficiency plot for different TES hours in Abha.

Fig. 9. Solar Multiple and Plant efficiency plot for different TES hours in Dawadmi.

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R.P. Praveen and Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101716

Fig. 10. Variation of Plant Efficiency and LCOE with TES hours for SM = 2.6 in Yanbu.

Fig. 11. Variation of Plant Efficiency and LCOE with TES hours for SM = 2.8 in Abha.

Fig. 12. Variation of Plant Efficiency and LCOE with TES hours for SM = 2.8 in Dawadmi.

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R.P. Praveen and Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101716

Fig. 13. Comparison of the performance parameters for the optimal PTC plant design.

least value of LCOE is considered for plant design, the plant’s effi- work, can generate an annual energy output of 495.26 GWh, with
ciency is only 15.94% with a capacity factor of 57.88%, and annual plant efficiency of 16.23% and a Capacity Factor of 56.59%. The
energy generated will be 506.5 GWh. However, from Fig. 10, it is LCOE corresponding to the optimal plant design parameters is esti-
clear that if full load hours of TES is selected as 10, the proposed mated to be at 7.81 cents/kWh.
PTC CSP plant in Yanbu can generate higher annual energy output Fig. 13 details the Capacity Factor and annual energy output of
of 525.4 GWh, with a plant efficiency of 16.53% and a Capacity Fac- the optimised PTC CSP plant design in each of the three locations:
tor of 60.04%. The LCOE for this optimal design combination in Yanbu, Abha, and Dawadmi. From Fig. 13, it is evident that Abha is
Yanbu, having SM and TES values of 2.6 and 10 h respectively, is the most promising site that can be considered for installing PTC
found to be 7.16 cents/kWh, which is very close to the least value CSP plant as it is found to offer an efficiency of 17.42% at a Capacity
of LCOE, i.e., 6.86 cents/kWh corresponding to 7 h of TES. Similarly, Factor of 64.9%. Table 3 compares the annual energy yield and the
for the locations in Abha and Dawadmi, the optimum value of SM is performance parameters of the optimised PTC CSP plant design
found to be 2.8 as the plant can offer peak efficiencies of 17.42% proposed in this research work.
and 16.23%, respectively, at 10 h of TES capacity, as shown in Table 4 gives a performance comparison of the optimised PTC
Figs. 11 and 12 respectively. The location in Abha is found to be CSP plant design proposed in this research with that of commercial
the most promising for the installation of the proposed PTC CSP PTC CSP plants operating around the world. From Table 4, it is clear
plant; it can generate an annual energy of 567.96 GWh with a plant that the plant efficiency of all three commercial PTC CSP plants
efficiency of 17.42% and a Capacity Factor of 64.9%. Also, the LCOE ranges from 14% to 16%, whereas the TES capacity is found to be
of the proposed plant in Abha is 6.85 cents/kWh, corresponding to between 7.5 and 8 h. The proposed optimisation approach in this
10 h of TES capacity. The PTC CSP plant in Dawadmi, which has the research is found to offer superior plant efficiency in all three loca-
least DNI potential among the sites considered in this research tions in Saudi Arabia compared to the operational plant data of
Andasol-1, La Florida, and Aste 1A PTC CSP plants. It is also worthy
to note that other parameters like annual energy generated, capac-
ity factor, and LCOE of the proposed design in all three locations are
Table 3
Performance parameters for the optimised CSP plant configuration in three locations. very competitive and hence advocate the feasibility of installing
PTC CSP plants in all three locations considered in the research.
Parameter Yanbu Abha Dawadmi
Annual Energy Generated (GWh) 525.42 567.96 495.26
Solar Multiple 2.6 2.8 2.8
8. Conclusion
Full load hours of TES 10 10 10
Capacity Factor (%) 60.04 64.9 56.59 A new optimisation approach for enhancing the performance of
LCOE (cents/kwh) 7.16 6.85 7.81 commercial PTC CSP plants is carried out in this research work. For
Plant Efficiency (%) 16.53 17.42 16.23
demonstrating the efficacy of the proposed optimisation tech-
nique, the performance of a 100 MW utility-scale PTC CSP plant

Table 4
Performance comparison of the optimised PTC CSP design with operational details of commercial PTC CSP Plants.

Parameter Andasol-1 [33] LaFlorida [33] Aste 1A [33] Abha

Plant Capacity 50 MWe 50 MWe 50 MWe 100 MWe
TES capacity (Hours) 7.5 7.5 8 10
Expected Annual Energy Generated (GWh) 158 158 170 567.96
Plant Efficiency (%) 16 14 15 17.42

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R.P. Praveen and Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli
is analysed for three locations in Saudi Arabia: Yanbu, Abha, and
Dawadmi.
The results show that two locations, Yanbu and Abha, can be
ideally considered for the installation of commercial PTC CSP
plants, as they are found to offer superior plant efficiencies
and Capacity Factor at reduced LCOE.
The location in Abha is found to be the most promising one as it
can generate an annual energy of 567.96 GWh with a plant effi-
ciency of 17.42%, Capacity Factor of 64.9%, and LCOE of 6.85
cents/kWh.
The optimisation approach presented in this work is found to
offer better plant efficiencies than that is recorded by commer-
cially operated PTC CSP plants such as Andasol-1, La Florida, and
Aste 1A, where plant efficiencies varied between 14% and 16%.
The findings of the study will help to improve the competitive-
ness of PTC CSP technology compared to other CSP technologies
and can support the need to increase the share of renewables
among the global energy mix.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
R.P. Praveen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation,
Formal analysis, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing –
review & editing, Project administration, Data curation, Visualiza-
tion, Supervision. Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli: Investigation, For-
mal analysis, Validation, Writing – review & editing, Data curation.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the Deanship of Scientific
Research at Majmaah University for supporting this work under
the project number (1439-63).
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R.P. Praveen and Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli
Praveen R.P. received the B.E. Degree (Hons.) in Elec-
trical and Electronics Engineering from M.S.University,
Tirunelveli, India, in 2004, and the M.Tech Degree (1st
rank) in Electrical Machines from College of Engineering
Trivandrum in 2007 and obtained his Ph.D in 2013 from
Cochin University of Science and Technology. He has
carried out his research work at ISRO Inertial Systems
Unit, Cochin university of Science and Technology and
College of Engineering Trivandrum and has got nearly
14 years of teaching and research experience. He is
currently with the Electrical Engineering Department of
College of Engineering, Majmaah University, Ministry of
Education, Saudi Arabia. His research contributions include twenty one Interna-
tional Journal papers, fourteen IEEE International Conference papers and nine
National Conference papers. His research interests include Special Electrical
Machines and Drives, Renewable Energy systems, Concentrated Solar Power Sys-
tems and Power Quality issues in Grid Integration.
12
Ain Shams Engineering Journal 13 (2022) 101716
Kotturu V.V. Chandra Mouli received his PhD Degree
from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur India, in
2011 for his research work on Buyer Supplier linkages in
Automotive Industry. He received PhD Degree in 2007
and Masters in 1999 both in Industrial Engineering from
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad,
India. His career started in an Automotive Pistons
Manufacturing Industry in Hyderabad as an Industrial
Engineer and worked 7 years in various positions. He
was a key contributor in getting ISO:9002 Certification
of the Automotive Pistons Manufacturing Industry.
Later, with Industrial Experience he shifted to Teaching
in GITAM University, Visakhapatnam and worked 14 years in various positions.
Currently he is working as Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial
Engineering College of Engineering, Majmaah University KSA. His main research
areas are Growth aspects of SMEs and Engineering optimization