enerMENA CSP Teaching Materials

Chapter 14
Site Assessment

Authors
1
Matthias Günther
1
Michael Joemann

Reviewers
2
Thomas Fend
3
Ahmed Al-Saleymeh
4
Christoph Schillings

1
University of Kassel, Institute for Electrical Engineering, Rational Energy Conversion, Wilhelmshöher
Allee 73, 34121 Kassel, Germany
2
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Solar Research, Linder Höhe 51147 Cologne, Germany
3
University of Jordan, Faculty of Engineering, P.O. Box 13533, Amman – 11942 Jordan
4
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Systems Analysis and Technology Assessment, Pfaffenwaldring
38-40, 70569 Stuttgart
1
Table of Contents
SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. 3
KEY QUESTIONS ...................................................................................................... 3
14 SITE ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................ 4
14.1 Site criteria for CSP .............................................................................................................................. 4
14.1.1 Solar radiation ................................................................................................................................. 4
14.1.2 Land resource ................................................................................................................................. 6
14.1.3 Infrastructure ................................................................................................................................. 12
14.1.4 Political and economic framework ............................................................................................. 14
14.2 Development of national CSP markets.......................................................................................... 15
14.3 Global potential of CSP ..................................................................................................................... 17
14.4 Site evaluation ..................................................................................................................................... 21
14.4.1 Detection of potential sites .......................................................................................................... 21
14.4.2 CSP performance model ............................................................................................................. 23
14.4.3 CSP cost model ............................................................................................................................ 26
REFERENCE LIST................................................................................................... 29
QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................ 30
ANSWERS ............................................................................................................... 30
EXERCISES ............................................................................................................. 31
SOLUTIONS............................................................................................................. 32

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Summary
In this chapter you will get to know the site criteria for the installation of CSP plants. Additionally, the
factors are mentioned that determine whether it is probable or not that a country develops a dynamic
CSP market in the future. You will also learn about the global potential of CSP. In the final part, a
model is introduced that allows the evaluation of possible CSP sites in accordance to the mentioned
site criteria.

Key questions
• Which site criteria are important for the construction of a CSP plant?
• Which countries are prone to develop a rapid CSP growth?
• What is the global potential of CSP?
• How can we determine appropriate sites for CSP plants?

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14 Site Assessment

14.1 Site criteria for CSP

The sites for CSP plants have to comply with certain requirements. We can divide them in four
groups: solar radiation requirements, land availability, infrastructure requirements, and the political
and economical framework in the respective country. In this section, we will comment these four
groups of site criteria.

Figure 1: Types of CSP site criteria

14.1.1 Solar radiation

A fundamental criterion for the construction of a CSP plant at a given site is a sufficiently high
availability of solar radiation. It is especially important that the direct fraction of solar irradiation is
high, because contrary to some other kinds of solar energy uses (especially photovoltaics) CSP makes
use only of the direct component of the solar radiation. Only direct radiation can be concentrated.

Figure 2: Types of solar energy use and corresponding radiation components

The relevant parameter is the DNI (direct normal irradiance), which is defined as the radiant flux
density in the solar spectrum (0.3 μm to 3 μm) incident at the earth's surface perpendicular to the
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direction to the Sun integrated over a small cone tracing the Sun. The available DNI is affected by
absorption and scattering of the solar radiation at air molecules, ozone, water vapour and aerosols. The
unit is power per square meter: W/m2. However, in general annual sums are taken as the parameter for
the evaluation of the direct radiation availability at a given site. In this case, the unit is energy per
square meter and year: kWh/m2/y. It is common in the CSP literature to use the terminus “DNI” also in
this sense of annual sums.
Generally, project developers consider a DNI between 1900 and 2100 kWh/m²/y as the threshold from
which on an economic operation of CSP plants is possible. Values above this threshold are reached in
the so-called Sun Belt, i.e. at latitudes between 15° and 40° on both hemispheres. This comprises
especially Middle East and North Africa, Namibia and South Africa, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan,
desert regions of India, some southern parts of the former Soviet Union and Western China, large parts
of Australia, the southwest of the USA and northern Mexico, northern Chile and contiguous parts of
Bolivia and Argentina.
Tropical areas between the Sun Belts are normally excluded because of high air humidity and frequent
cloudiness. Latitudes higher than 40° are not considered. The DNI conditions are unfavourable
because of three aspects: First, in general, high latitudes are characterized by frequent cloudiness,
which reduces the annual direct radiation hours considerably. Second, high latitudes are characterized
by high seasonal radiation variances, which would imply large seasonal variances in the energy yield.
Third, the radiation incidence angles (on the horizontal plane) are high, which may cause higher cosine
losses (depending on the concentration geometry) and which has in any case the effect that the Air
Mass is high, which reduces the available direct radiation.
The following figure shows a global map of annual DNI sums, which was designed by DLR on the
basis of long term NASA radiation data.

Figure 3: Annual direct normal irradiation in kWh/m²/y (source: DLR)

In order to evaluate possible CSP sites, it is fundamental to count with exact data of the local direct
solar irradiation. These data can be obtained by ground measurement or from satellite measurement
programs. The combination of both sources – ground measurement and satellite measurement
programs – gives the advantage of very reliable local solar radiation information: Time-limited ground
measurement (one year) makes possible the adaptation of the satellite model to site-specific
conditions. The satellite data make accessible long-term radiation information.

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14.1.2 Land resource
CSP plants need a high land area compared to conventional power plants. The specific surface area for
a parabolic trough power plant is about 0.015 km2 to 0.02 km2 per MW.5 The availability of land to
build large CSP collector fields is therefore an important site criterion. The land has to comply with
certain natural conditions in order to be apt for the construction of a plant. Additionally, possible
competing land use options have to be taken into account. Remember that the idea of the installation
of CSP plants in arid regions is not only appealing because of the possibility to generate clean
electricity with quite a high efficiency, but also that areas can be used that are non-productive until
now. Additionally, protected areas have to be avoided and the local natural hazard potential has to be
considered. Finally, local land market conditions have to be taken into account.

Figure 4: Parameters that determine the land availability for CSP plants

Natural land conditions and land use

Natural land conditions on a given site and possible land use alternatives define to a great extend the
appropriateness of an area for the construction of CSP plants.

Land cover and land use

Land cover is the physical and biological material on the earth’s surface. Land cover types are
grassland, water, forest, desert etc. There are technical implications of the land cover that make an area
favourable or less favourable for CSP plants. Additionally, the land cover is an important parameter
concerning alternative land use.
Water bodies and glaciers have to be excluded for technical reasons. Also marsh and wetland are not
appropriate. Sand deserts (ergs) are also problematic as possible solar power plant sites due to
quicksand and shifting sand dunes and because of missing solid building ground. It has also to be
taken into consideration that shifting sands are dynamic structures that propagate to other places. This
requires that a safety zone around sand dunes has to be respected. The propagation velocity of sand
dunes can amount up to 200 m/y. At that rate and with an assumed lifetime of CSP plants of about 50
years, safety zones have to be a width of up to 10 km.6

5
See Brösamle 2000, 82. However, taking into account the total surface area need of power
generation from fossil fuel, including, for instance, surface mining areas, the total surface area use for
fossil fuel power generation may be even higher than the one of solar power generation (see Altmann
1996).
6
See Kronshage 2002.
6
Salt areas are excluded because of their heavy corrosive properties. Anticorrosive measures for whole
CSP plants would result very expensive.
Furthermore, no power plants should be built on forest areas, grazing land and cropland in order to
avoid land use conflicts and negative environmental consequences.
It is obvious that no solar power plants can be built on existing settlement areas. In addition, it has to
be taken into account that in general some minimum distance from settlement areas has to be
respected. Further urban development has to be considered as well as the visibility from the settled
areas.
Appropriate areas for solar power plants are especially semi-desert with scrub and deserts (except for
sand deserts) and also grassland, scrubland and savannahs (taking into consideration possible
alternative usages).
Figure 5 shows the land cover and respective land uses in EU-MENA and Figure 6 shows the areas
that are excluded because of existing sand dunes, salt and glaciers.

Figure 5: Land cover and land use in EU-MENA (source: USGS 2000)

Figure 6: Exclusion areas because of sand dunes, salt and glaciers (source: DLR)

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Cooling water availability
Water availability is important especially if the CSP plants should be equipped with wet cooling
systems. Wet cooling is favourable for the CSP plant operation because of higher possible power plant
efficiencies and because of lower investment costs in comparison to dry cooling. That’s why it is a big
advantage if sufficient water is available for the plant cooling system. Unfortunately, the needed high
irradiation for the operation of a CSP plant is not easily to combine with abundant water occurrence.
One important source of water, precipitation, fails normally, because areas with high solar irradiation
usually don’t count with high amounts of precipitation. Another source, sea water, is more likely to be
available in some regions. However, the irradiation is normally slightly lower near the coast than
upcountry because of higher water vapour content in the atmosphere.
For the first parabolic trough power plants in Europe, the Andasol complex in Andalusia, a site was
chosen that combined arid climate and high water availability thanks to the proximity of high
mountains, the Sierra Nevada. The precipitation rates in the Sierra Nevada are higher so that ground
water flows in the lower area, where the power plant is situated, can be utilised. Each of the Andasol
50MW power plants needs about 5 l/kWh or 870000 m3/y for cooling.7
Additionally, water is also used for reflector cleaning and as feed water for the steam cycle. However,
in the case of the SEGS power plants in California, 80% of the consumed water is used for cooling and
only 5% for reflector cleaning and 15% for other power station needs.8

Land slope
Depending on the CSP technology, slope affects the feasibility of a CSP plant and also its costs.
Especially line focussing systems (parabolic trough and linear Fresnel power plants) need large
sufficiently flat areas. Parabolic trough collectors are up to 150 metres long (the new Heliotrough even
until 191 m) and linear Fresnel collectors may be much longer, up to 1 km. Point focussing systems,
solar power towers and dish/engine systems, can be erected also on areas with a larger slope, for
example on a south facing hillside. The reasons are that the mirrors have punctual foundations, which
are independent from each other and that there is no heat transfer fluid circuit that connects them.
For a site analysis, a certain threshold of slope can be defined to exclude areas with higher slope. A
very conservative threshold is e.g. 2.1%, which is used often in DLR studies. All areas with a slope
higher than 2.1% are then excluded. A common threshold is also 4%. This is for example the slope of
the area the linear Fresnel power plant PE2 (Novatec Solar) is built upon.
The used threshold of slope depends also on the spatial resolution of the applied digital elevation
model (DEM), which can be in the range of 30 m (SRTM data) to 1 km (GLOBE data) or even lower.
If a data set with low spatial resolution is used, averaging effects have to be taken into account and the
threshold has to be adapted.

7
See http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andasol.
8
See Mohr et al. 1999, 40. Other sources, as Brösamle 2000, 87, indicate even lower percentages for
others than cooling purposes.
8
Figure 7: Excluded areas because of a slope higher than 2.1% (Source: DLR)

Natural hazard potential

Natural risks comprise phenomena like earthquakes, storms, and others. These risks can affect the
operating safety of a CSP plant. In order to resist the impacts of these phenomena, the design of the
solar field and of the power block must be adapted, which may imply higher construction costs.
Additionally, insurance costs may rise at sites with higher damage risks.
The following figures are taken from the dataset ‘World Map of Natural Hazards’ of Munich Re.9
They show the spatial distribution of different natural hazards. An area can be characterized by its
subordination under a risk class with respect to a certain hazard type.

Figure 8: Earthquake risk Figure 9: Risk of volcanic eruptions

9
Munich Re is one of the world’s leading reinsurance companies. It is based in Munich, Germany.
9
Figure 10: Risk of tornados Figure 11: Risk of hailstorms

Figure 13: Tsunami risk

Figure 12: Risk of lightning

Protected areas
No CSP plant can be erected on protected areas. The general definition of a protected area, adopted by
the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is as follows: “An area of land and/or
sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and
associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means”. Additionally,
IUCN has defined six protected area management categories based on primary management objective.
These six categories are the following:
CATEGORY Ia: Strict Nature Reserve: protected land and/or sea area managed primarily for
scientific research and/or environmental monitoring, possessing outstanding or
representative ecosystems, geological or physiological features and/or species
CATEGORY Ib: Wilderness Area: protected area managed mainly for wilderness protection, large
unmodified or only slightly modified land and/or sea area that retains its natural
character, without permanent or significant human settlement; protected and
managed to preserve its natural conditions
CATEGORY II: National Park: protected area managed mainly for ecosystem protection and
recreation; natural land and/or sea area that is designated to (a) protect the

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 ecological integrity of one or more ecosystems for present and future generations,
(b) exclude exploitation or occupation inimical to the purposes of designation of the
area and (c) provide scientific, educational and recreational opportunities, all of
which must be environmentally and culturally compatible.
CATEGORY III: Natural Monument: protected area managed mainly for conservation of specific
natural features, defined as an area containing one or more specific natural or
natural/cultural features of unique or outstanding value because of its rarity,
representative or aesthetic qualities or cultural significance.
CATEGORY IV: Habitat/Species Management Area: land and/or sea area protected and managed
through active intervention to ensure the conservation of habitats and/or to meet the
requirements of specific species
CATEGORY V: Protected Landscape/Seascape: land and/or coast/sea area managed mainly for
landscape/seascape conservation and for recreation; area where the interaction of
people and nature has produced an area of distinct character with significant
aesthetic, ecological and/or cultural value, and often with high biological diversity.
Safeguarding the integrity of this traditional interaction is vital to the protection,
maintenance and evolution of such an area.
CATEGORY VI: Managed Resource Protected Area: protected area managed mainly for the
sustainable use of natural ecosystems; area containing predominantly unmodified
natural systems, managed to ensure long term protection and maintenance of
biological diversity, while providing at the same time a sustainable flow of natural
products and services to meet community needs.

Data about protected areas are collected in the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA 2005). The
information is based on data of the IUCN and the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA).
Figure 14 shows the protected areas in EU-MENA.

Figure 14: Protected areas of EU-MENA (source: WDPA 2005)

Land costs & land ownership

As mentioned above, CSP plants need relatively high land areas. That’s why land costs may be an
essential part of the investment costs and may be, therefore, an important site criterion. The
requirement of affordable land costs can be in conflict with some other site criteria as, for instance,

11
water and infrastructure availability. However, the task is not to fulfil all requirements ideally, but to
look for an optimal balance between them.
In general, the land costs depend on the range of possible alternative uses, the owner structure and the
existence of a free real estate market.
• Alternative uses: Alternative uses determine to a great extent the price of the land. Among the
kinds of area that were defined as appropriate (grassland, scrubland, savannah, semi-desert
with scrub and desert regions) especially desert areas permit only few or no alternative uses.
In other areas, for instance in more densely populated areas in Southern Spain or in California
more alternative uses are possible.
• Owner structure: The prices may depend on the owner structure. For example, it might be
important whether the land is owned by the State, by individuals or by companies. Another
aspect is the property size: The purchase of many small parcels requires higher efforts and
may result more difficult than the purchase of one large piece of land.
• Free real estate markets: It is much easier for a potential investor to purchase land if a free
real estate market exists. Additionally, it may be important whether the real estate market is
open to foreign investors.

14.1.3 Infrastructure
CSP plants need certain infrastructure for their operation. Existing infrastructure is, hence, an
important site criterion. Missing infrastructure requires higher investment.
A power plant needs access to roads or other transportation ways (navigable waterways), to high or
medium voltage power grids and to water resources if wet cooling is planned. Additionally, pipelines
may be favourable for water transport or fuel transport for hybrid plant operation.
Areas with high solar irradiation, especially in desert areas, are in some cases far away from inhabited
areas or areas with developed infrastructure. In some deserts the distance to the next road may be
several hundred kilometres. Power networks and cooling water resources may be even farther away
from the potential site.

Access
Power plant components, for example turbines, transformers and glass mirrors, have to be transported
on roads, railways or on navigable waterways to the construction site. In case of roads, some
requirements have to be respected like load capacity, curve radius and pavement. During the
construction process of a CSP plant a connection to navigable waterways is favourable for the supply
of the site with building material and plant components. Transport of the components by ship may be
more efficient and more easily manageable than by truck.
Hybrid CSP plants, i.e. CSP plants, which are able to use different energy sources to provide the
power cycle with thermal energy, may need large amounts of fuel. This fuel would have to be
transported to the plant on waterways, railways or via pipelines. Roads are less qualified because of
the limited transport capacity of trucks. For a single plant the investment costs for the construction of a
long pipeline or canal may be too high. That’s why hybrid CSP plants will be built near existing
pipelines or waterways.

Electricity transport
An important criterion is also the availability of an appropriate transmission grid respectively the
distance to one. Large CSP plants need high voltage lines to transport the generated electricity to the
consumers. A short distance from the transmission lines is an advantage because the infrastructure
investment costs are lower.

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Related to this infrastructural criterion is the criterion of the distance from the consumers. A very high
distance implies higher transmission losses. However, the losses are quite low so that this criterion
generally has a low importance compared to other criteria like, for instance, the existence of
transmission infrastructure.

Example: Infrastructural conditions in Egypt

The example of Egypt shows how infrastructure can be a limiting factor for the development of CSP
plants. Based on large land areas with excellent solar radiation, Egypt has an enormous CSP potential.
However, large areas are hardly populated and do not count with any infrastructure. The infrastructure
is concentrated along the coastal lines and the Nile River and delta.
• Figure 15 shows the low density of road infrastructure in a large part of the country. In the
western desert regions only the oases are connected to the road network.
• Figure 16 shows the railway network. (In Egypt, the first railway in MENA was built.) The
main line of the Egyptian railway network follows the Nile from Alexandria to Aswan.
• Waterways exist along the Nile, around Lake Nasser, between Alexandria and Cairo and in
numerous smaller canals in the Nile delta. All together they form a network of about 3500 km
of navigable inland waterways. The most important waterway is the Nile up to Aswan.
• Figure 17 shows the Egyptian transmission grid in 2004. Like the other infrastructure, the
transmission lines are located along the coasts and along the Nile. Upcountry desert areas are
not connected to the electricity grid.

Figure 15: Egyptian roadmap (source: Figure 16: Egyptian railway network 2004,
www.maps.google.de) (source: Gary Goldfinch 2004)

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Figure 17: Egyptian Unified Power Network,
(source: Gary Goldfinch 2004)

Radiation conditions are most favourable in areas that are distant from the coast line. This is the case
because of the lower water vapour content in the atmosphere and a consequently lower turbidity
factor. Additionally, in the desert zones, competitive land uses hardly exist, while the CSP
development in areas with a high infrastructure density (the Nile Valley) present higher opportunity
costs. However, the high infrastructure costs in many areas far away from the coast could make it
economically unviable to build CSP plants there.

14.1.4 Political and economic framework

Finally, political and economic conditions in a country represent important site criteria. Promotion
measures for renewable energies are especially decisive. There are different promotion strategies. The
most important strategies are special feed-in tariffs or premiums for electricity generated on the basis
of renewable energy sources, quotas for the renewable energy share and tax incentives.
Feed-in tariff systems provide investors with low risks due to fixed remunerations over a given length
of time. They have been proven to be very effective.
Feed-in premiums guarantee additional revenues in relation to the revenues that are reached though the
electricity sale at market prices.
In quota systems the governments impose obligations on the electricity suppliers to produce a
minimum share of the electricity from renewable energy sources.
Special tax incentives and investment grants were used, for instance, in California when the SEGS
plants were built.
The politically controlled promotion of CSP is still necessary because of the currently higher levelized
electricity cost of CSP plants in comparison to fossil fired power plants and some other competitors.
Political promotion has the aim to make CSP plants economically competitive until they get
competitive on their own.

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14.2 Development of national CSP markets
In the previous section site criteria for the construction of CSP plants were mentioned. In this section
we will get to know parameters that are relevant for the development potential of a CSP market in a
country. These parameters must resemble the criteria of the preceding section. Only a country with
high solar radiation and with sufficient land availability will be able to develop a CSP market.
However, there are further economic parameters that have to be taken into account.
Important factors for growth potential of CSP markets are:
• Solar radiation
• Land availability
• National energy demand
• Energy export opportunities
• Energy prices
• Political framework conditions for renewable energies especially for CSP
Direct solar radiation is a necessary condition for CSP plants. The threshold for the economically
reasonable operation of CSP plants is generally seen at a DNI of between 1900 and 2100 kWh/m²/y.
Additionally, it is important that the areas with good solar radiation conditions in a given country are
not needed for other purposes. There has to be available land.
The national energy demand development has an effect on the future development of a CSP market.
The higher the energy demand growth of a country is, the more power plants have to be build to cover
the demand, which may be positive for a growing CSP market. In MENA, for instance, the electricity
demand will grow very quickly because of the enormous population growth in most countries and a
considerable economic growth in many countries.
Energy export opportunities may be favourable for the development of national CSP markets. For
many countries the energy generation from CSP plants can be an important economic opportunity.
This holds especially for MENA due to its proximity to European consumption centres.
The energy prices in a country have also an influence on the power plant park of a country. Higher
energy prices are better for the CSP market. If the prices are low, then the electricity generated by CSP
plants may be too expensive to be able to enter the national electricity market, or the politically
controlled promotion of CSP would be very costly. The low electricity prices in many MENA
countries (also due to existing subsidies) are not favourable for the development of national CSP
markets. These low prices, however, do not affect the possibility to export CSP electricity to Europe.
Political framework conditions for renewable energies in general and for CSP in particular are
constituted, as mentioned above, especially by national promotion schemes for renewable energies.
Here are two examples of promotion strategies in countries where the CSP market was developed
successfully:
• In August 2002, Spain passed a feed-in tariff/premium law for concentrated solar power,
the Real Decreto 661/2007. A maximum of 500 MWe of installed capacity per year can be
supported. The feed-in tariff or premium is paid only for CSP plants up to 50 MWe in order
to avoid the concentration of the political support to CSP few projects.
The feed-in tariff/premium system guarantees high investment security. Spain belongs now
to the leading nations in the CSP sector.
• In the USA, there are different promotion programs at the federal, state and regional level.
In many States renewable portfolio standards (RPS) are introduced that target a certain
amount of renewable energies in the energy mix. Investment tax credits (ITC) provide tax
incentives for investments in renewable energy systems. The ITC is temporarily replaced
15
 by a cash grant within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It expires in
2010.
One of the main barriers to progress in new technologies is that the financing conditions are difficult.
Banks need to know the costs, the risks and the probable revenues in order to be able to finance
projects. That’s why reliable public support of new technologies is important. One advantage of feed-
in tariffs is that they provide a calculable income for the project operators, which makes the projects
more easily bankable.
In 2009, the study “Concentrated Solar Thermal Power (CSP) – Now and in the future” was published
by EuPD Research. This study offers a ranking of countries concerning their proneness to develop a
national CSP market. The mentioned parameters are taken into consideration in this study. The
following table shows the 15 countries with the highest potential.

Table 1: Country ranking concerning probability of national CSP market development (source: EuPD
Research)

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14.3 Global potential of CSP
The criteria mentioned in section 1 can be used to determine the global potential for CSP electricity
generation.
The solar radiation distribution has to be determined and the annual sums of DNI can be used as the
measure that determines the quality of sites.

Figure 18: Worldwide annual direct normal irradiation in kWh/m²y from NASA SSE 6.0 (source: Trieb
et al. 2009)

In a further step, the available land has to be specified according to the criteria that were discussed
above.
The following databases can be used to identify suitable sites:

• Global Land One-kilometre Base Elevation (Globe) for elevation and slope information
• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for land cover and land use information
• World Commission on Protected Areas (WDPA) for protected areas information
• Digital Chart of the World (DCW) for land use and infrastructure information
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for land use information

The following map shows the excluded areas taking into consideration the land availability criteria.

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Figure 19: Worldwide exclusion of sites for CSP plant construction. Dark areas indicate suitable sites
from the point of view of land suitability (source: Trieb et al. 2009)

In a further step, the threshold concerning DNI has to be defined from which on a CSP plant is
considered to be economically viable. DLR applied the threshold of 2000 kWh/m²/y. With this
decision, a new map can be designed that excludes the non-available land and the area with
insufficient direct radiation. At the remaining areas, i.e. at the appropriate areas, the annual DNI is
indicated:

Figure 20: Annual sum of direct normal irradiation for potential CSP sites worldwide (source:
Trieb et al. 2009)

The following regional distribution of appropriate sites is the result of this analysis:

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Figure 21: Appropriate areas for CSP generation in different world regions classified by DNI (source:
Trieb et al. 2009)

It is to be seen that Africa and Middle East dispose of large areas that are appropriate for the
installation of CSP plants. The following figure shows the distribution among some countries in
MENA:

Figure 22: Appropriate areas for CSP in the MENA countries subdivided into DNI classes
(source: Trieb et al. 2009)

These data allow calculating the electricity yield for the different regions. Such a calculation leads to
the conclusion that all continents have a sufficient CSP electricity generation potential to supply the
whole continent. This result was an important motivation for the Desertec idea, i.e. the idea that the
desert areas in the world are sufficient to satisfy the world energy demand.10 Indeed, a bit more than
one percent of the Sahara, an area of 90,600 square kilometres, has the potential to generate the

10
We have to add two comments in this respect: First, the Desertec idea does not concentrate
exclusively on CSP technology, but it considers different forms of electricity generation within desert
areas. Second, the available land taken into account in the shown maps does not only comprise
deserts but also other appropriate areas.
19
amount of electricity that is currently generated in the power plants all over the world.11 The following
figure shows the required area to provide the electricity demand of the world, the EU 25 and the
MENA region in 2005.12

Figure 23: Desertec project map for EU-MENA with theoretically necessary desert areas to cover the
electricity demand of the world and of given parts of the world (source: www.desertec.org)

If we take into considerations, additionally, that most of the global human population lives not further
than 3000 km away from deserts, i.e. from areas with a significant CSP potential, than it is
conceivable that the Desertec idea has the potential to be realized step by step at a global level. The
measure of 3000 km is applied because the bulk transmission of electricity over such distances is
technically possible and realized in several HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) projects.

Figure 24: Reachable regions for CSP electricity from the deserts worldwide (source: Lahmeyer
International)

11
See EuPD 2009.
12
Additionally, there is a square for the “TRANS-CSP Mix EUMENA 2050”. This refers to a scenario
developed by the DLR about the electricity supply in EU-MENA in the year 2050.
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14.4 Site evaluation
In the evaluation of possible plant sites the criteria explained in section 1 have to be considered.
Exclusion criteria like the existence of inappropriate soil conditions, slope, protected nature areas or
human settlements reduce the available area for CSP projects. The remaining, gradual criteria have to
be balanced and traded off one against the other. The result of this process must be the determination
of the economically most interesting sites in a given region, i.e. the determination of the sites where
CSP electricity can be generated at the most convenient cost.
The general procedure is the following: Solar radiation conditions and land availability are assessed.
On the basis of these data and under the assumption of specific CSP plant configurations, a
performance model is used to calculate electricity output data. In a further step, the output data of the
performance model, combined with cost determining factors, are used in a cost model for the
calculation of costs (project costs, levelized electricity costs).

Figure 25: General procedure of site evaluations

14.4.1 Detection of potential sites

The most basic resources that have to be evaluated for the construction of a CSP plant are land and
solar radiation.
• A potential CSP site must be characterized by sufficiently favourable direct solar radiation
conditions. Where the limit is between sufficient and insufficient radiation is not clear from
the outset and it may vary over the years and also from region to region. In a region, where
very excellent radiation conditions are common, weaker sites may not be considered although
they count with direct radiation conditions that would make them an interesting site in another
region. Additionally, changing cost relations between different electricity generati0n
technologies may change the DNI threshold from which the construction of a CSP plant is
economically interesting.
As mentioned above, an annual DNI sum of 1900 to 2100 kWh/m2/y is currently considered to
be the threshold for sufficiently favourable radiation conditions. This corresponds to the best
sites in southern Spain and to weaker sites in northern Africa. Values above this threshold are
achieved on sites in the Sun Belts on the northern and southern hemisphere, i.e. at latitudes
between 15° and 40°.

21
 The direct solar radiation data for whole regions can be acquired by means of satellite
measurement programmes. The data can be represented in DNI maps. This can be done with
the aid of GIS13 tools.

Figure 26: DNI assessment for a given region

• In a next step, a site exclusion map can be generated. In this map, all unsuitable areas are
excluded: mountains, water bodies, woods, agricultural land, sand deserts, settlement areas,
protected areas, etc. The different exclusion criteria can be combined in a GIS screening,
where single layers for every exclusion criterion are generated and subsequently superposed
generating one overall site exclusion map.

Figure 27: Generation of a site exclusion map

13
GIS: Geographic information system that captures, stores, analyses, manages and presents data
with reference to geographic location data. GIS screening is the representation of geographic data on
a graphical display, based on GIS.
22
14.4.2 CSP performance model

General aspects
A performance model allows the determination of CSP performance parameters on the basis of solar
radiation data and CSP plant configuration options. The performance parameters that can be
determined are basically:
- Annual full load hours
- Annual net power generation
- Solar-electric efficiency14
- Land use factor15
- Land use efficiency16
A CSP plant configuration has to be chosen. The solar field type has to be specified (point-focussing:
dish/Stirling, tower; line-focussing: parabolic trough, linear Fresnel). Further parameters are the heat
transfer fluid (thermo oil, direct steam, molten salt), the power cycle technology (steam cycle, Brayton
cycle, Stirling cycle), the cooling type (dry cooling, once-through cooling, evaporative cooling), the
operation type (solar only, hybrid), the fuels for hybrid mode (coal, oil, gas, biofuels, waste), solar
multiple and storage size, and storage type and storage media. Also additional factors like parasitic
energy use and transmission losses (in dependence on transmission distance and transmission
technology) can be taken into account in order to reach more exact data about the electricity supply
performance of the plant. In the basis of the selected configuration options and of the radiation
characteristics of the chosen site, a simulation tool determines the mentioned performance parameters.
In the following table there are some average performance values for the most important CSP plant
types (parabolic trough power plant, tower power plant, linear Fresnel power plant, each with steam
cycle) leaving out further configuration parameters.

Table 2: Average performance parameters for different CSP plant types (source: DLR)

The table shows only very rough average results for the main CSP power plant types. It is a very
complex task to realize an exact performance model because there are a large number of configuration

14
Solar-electric aperture related efficiency is the ratio of the annual net power generation to the annual
direct irradiation on the total collector aperture of the plant:

.
15
Land use factor is the ratio of the total collector aperture area of the plant to the total land area of
the plant:

.
16
Land use efficiency is the ratio of the annual net power generation of a plant to the annual direct
irradiation on the total construction area of the plant:
.
23
parameters for a CSP plant that have to be fixed (concentration geometry, solar multiple, turbine type,
cooling type, etc.). Additionally, there are environmental conditions, besides direct solar radiation, that
are important (temperature, humidity, wind conditions). A comprehensive model would have to
consider all these parameters. In the following we will indicate a simplified performance model for
parabolic trough power plants.

A simplified performance model for parabolic trough power plants

The following simplified performance model is valid for a 200 MW solar only parabolic trough power
plant without thermal storage (solar multiple 1).17 The solar field has north-south orientation. The
reference direct irradiance on the aperture is taken to be 860 W/m2.
The model represents the energy balance of the solar field on the one hand and the conversion
efficiency of the Rankine steam cycle at the other hand. In both cases the performance is calculated as
a function of time; the model calculates the hourly thermal power output of the solar field and the
electricity yield of the power plant.
Solar field simulation: The radiation input variable is the direct normal irradiance. The total power
plant aperture area receives the radiation. However, the power that is received by the solar field is not
, but a lower value. The reasons are the following:
a) Due to the incidence angle of the direct radiation on the aperture plane, which in general is
not zero, the irradiance on the aperture plane is . So, a correction term
has to be taken into consideration. The incidence angle for a north-south
aligned solar field is calculated as follows:

, where is the solar zenith angle, the declination

and the hour angle.
b) An incidence angle that is larger than zero has more effects on the solar field yield besides the
cosine effect. The second effect is that the Sun image changes its shape, which also reduces
the solar field output. There are different proposals how to quantify this effect. One of them
is the correction term .
c) A further effect of the varying incidence angle is that the absorber at the collector row ends is
not always illuminated. The part that is not illuminated is , where is the
focal length. The correction term for the collector row end losses is

, where is the length of the collector rows.

d) In the morning and in the evening the rows can shade each other. The respective shading
correction is the following:

,
where is the distance between the collector rows, the aperture width, the solar
altitude angle, the length of the collector rows, the tilt angle of the collectors in relation
to the ground and the difference between collector azimuth and solar
azimuth angle.
These effects can be grouped together to the geometric efficiency:

17
The model was developed in the year 2000. We refer especially to Brösamle 2000.
24
Another important group of loss mechanisms besides the mentioned geometric losses are the optical
losses that occur by non ideal reflection and absorption of solar radiation. It is determined by the
• reflectivity of the mirrors
• transmission factor of the mirror glass cover
• optical factor of the mirror surface (quality factor)
• transmission factor of the receiver glass tube
• absorptance of the absorber tube .
These optical parameters can be grouped as the optical efficiency:

A third group of loss mechanisms considers the thermal losses of the hot collector elements during
operation. There are convective and radiant losses. Convective losses are approximately proportional
to the difference of the mean surface temperature of the heat transfer medium or the absorber tube
and the ambient temperature . Convective losses are quantified by the convection loss
factor [W/m2K]. Radiant losses are proportional to the difference of the mentioned temperatures to
the power of four.
The heat losses per square meter aperture area are:

• convective heat loss:

• radiant heat loss: ,

where is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, the emissivity (=absorptance)

for the thermal radiation at the respective temperatures and the concentration ratio (defined as the
ratio of the collector width to the absorber diameter).

Combining the different loss mechanisms, the thermal solar field power can be calculated as:

is the total collector aperture.

The power block model is quite simple. The net electric power is the difference of gross electric power
and parasitic electricity consumption. The essential parameters for the determination of the gross
electric power are the nominal conversion efficiency of the steam cycle and its part load behaviour:

is the nominal efficiency of the power cycle, the rated nominal thermal power of the
solar field, and and the parasitic electricity consumption of the solar field and the
power block, respectively.
The exponent that describes the part load behaviour of the power block is taken to be .

25
The parasitic electricity consumption depends itself on the gross power output. The solar field
electricity consumption is caused by the heat transfer fluid pumps and the tracking system. The solar
field electricity consumption is:

The factor is the share of the gross electricity output that is consumed for the solar field
operation at nominal gross power output ( ).
The parasitic electricity use of the power block is basically for the compressor, the cooling system, the
control systems, lighting and air condition. The power block electricity consumption is:

is the share of the gross electricity output that is consumed for the power block operation at
nominal gross power output ( ). depends on the cooling system and is determined
as follows:
dry cooling:
evaporation cooling: /km pipline
once through cooling: /km pipline

14.4.3 CSP cost model

The third principal step in a site evaluation is the evaluation of economic parameters. On the basis of
the plant performance values and taking into consideration all relevant cost factors the economic
performance of a plant can be determined.
The following cost factors have to be taken into account:
• plant investment costs:
‐ solar field
‐ heat transfer system
‐ power block with cooling system
• infrastructure investment costs:
‐ grid access (depending on necessary transmission distances)
‐ cooling water pipeline (depending on cooling type and pipeline length)
‐ road access (depending on distance from next road)
• operation and maintenance costs:
‐ personnel expenditures
‐ maintenance expenditures
‐ insurance costs
• debt service (depending on investment volume, interest rate and duration)
Additionally, tax issues and national and local promotion possibilities have to be taken into
consideration.
With these data, economic parameters can be determined. The levelised cost of electricity (LCOE), i.e.
the cost that is implied by the generation of a unit of electric energy (measured in €/MWh or €/kWh),
is the most important parameter. A simple form to calculate the LCOE is the following:

26
 .

where is the total investment cost, i.e. plant and infrastructure investment cost, the interest rate,
the annual operation and maintenance expenditures and the annual electricity yield. In
the formula it is supposed that the annual electricity yield is constant. Operation and maintenance
expenditures are assumed to be constant as well. Equity and debt are not distinguished; that means the
same interest rate is applied to both.
The result of an overarching study for a given region can be a map that allows the quick identification
of interesting CSP sites. In the following there are two maps that illustrate economic parameters for
CSP plants in Morocco.
The first one shows the overall project costs for a reference CSP plant. The green colour indicates low
capital costs; the blue colour indicates high costs. Coastal areas are especially favourable for the
construction of a CSP plant from the investment cost perspective. First, the infrastructural conditions
are more favourable, second, the sea can be used as a transport way, and, third, more cost-effective sea
water (once-though) cooling can be applied. Farther away from the coast, evaporative cooling and
finally the more expensive dry cooling has to be applied. Some zones with a higher earthquake risk in
northern Morocco cause higher capital costs. CSP projects in the south-eastern border to Algeria are
especially expensive because of missing infrastructure.

Figure 28: Overall project cost for CSP plants in Morocco (source: DLR)

The second map shows the levelised electricity costs for the respective reference CSP plant type. As to
be expected, the best sites in relation to the investment costs are not necessarily the best sites in
relation to the levelised electricity costs. Different radiation conditions at different sites are responsible
for this. Coastal areas have the disadvantage to have a higher cloud index and to present higher water
vapour values. Despite of this, the advantages of the coastal zones mentioned above still predominate
and provoke that the best areas for the economic generation of electricity are near the coast (in the
middle part of Morocco). The map includes additionally exclusion areas. They are represented in
black.

27
The calculation was done for a parabolic through power plant of a capacity of 200MW (without
hybridisation). The levelised electricity cost were calculated to be in the range of 10.5 to 16.5
€ct/kWh18.

Figure 29: Levelized electricity cost with CSP in Morocco (source: DLR)

18
See Trieb et al., 2002
28
Reference list
Altmann, M (1996): Environmental Impacts of Solar Thermal Power Plants – A Moroccan Case
Study. In: Proceedings of the 10th EuroSun 1996, Freiburg

Brösamle, H. (2000): Solarthermische Kraftwerke – Standortlokalisation und Potentialabschätzung

mit dem Planungsinstrument STEPS. Vechta: Hochschule Vechta

Brösamle, H. et al. (2011): “Assessment of Solar Electricity potentials in North Africa based on
Satellite Data and a Geographic Information System”. Solar Energy 70 (1), a-
12

EuPD Resaerch (2009): „ Concentrated Solar Thermal Power (CSP) - Now and in the Future “

Hoyer-Klick C., Schilling C. (2010): “SOLEMI Solar energy mining”.

http://www.dlr.de/tt/Portaldata/41/Resources/dokumente/institut/
system/projects/SOLEMI_Handout_2010_09.pdf

Kronshage, S. (2002): Standortanalyse für solarthermische Kraftwerke am Beispiel des Königreichs

Marokko. Diploma Thesis. University of Osnabrück

Mohr, M., Svoboda, P., Unger, H. (1999): Praxis solarthermischer Kraftwerke. Berlin, Heidelberg:
Springer

Trieb F., et al. (2002): „Solarthermische Kraftwerke - Standortpotentiale, Standortanalysen,

Stromtransport“. http://www.dlr.de/tt/Portaldata/41/Resources/
dokumente/institut/system/publications/2002_10_14_FVS_Potentiale.pdf

Trieb F. et al. (2009): “Charactarization of Solar Electricity Import Corridors from MENA to Europe –
Potential, Infrastructure and cost“ July 2009.
http://www.dlr.de/tt/Portaldata/41/Resources/dokumente/institut/system/publi
cations/Solar_import_DLR_2009_07.pdf

29
Questions
1) Why is it little probable that there will be CSP plants in countries near the equator (for
instance in the Democratic Republic of Kongo)?

2) Why Spain could develop a large CSP market, while other countries with similar or even
better natural conditions did not?

3) There are two consultants who make an assessment about the location of future CSP plants in
Algeria. Consultant A proposes several sites which are nearly all located closed to the coast
and none very far away from the Mediterranean. Consultant B proposes several sites among
which some are also situated inside the country. Now, you receive the information that one of
them compared the different possible sites according to investment costs and the other one
according to levelised electricity costs.
a) Which one applies which criterion?
b) Why do the different criteria lead to the different results?
c) The results of which consultant do you use to make your investment decisions?

Answers
1) Countries near the equator normally have a tropical climate with high cloudiness and high
water vapour content in the atmosphere. That means that the direct irradiation is too low for
CSP. Photovoltaics can be an interesting option for tropical countries.

2) Spain introduced feed-in tariffs for CSP plants, which allow the economic operation of CSP
plants.

3)
a) A applies the investment cost criterion. B applies the levelised energy cost criterion.
b) Solar radiation is higher in the south of the country. That’s why the same CSP plant will
generate more electric energy in the south than in the north, which is favourable for the
levelised electricity costs. However, the investment will be higher in the south because
there is less infrastructure and there is less water for cooling. That’s why consultant A will
have a preference for coastal locations, while consultant B may find also sites in the south
that are interesting for CSP plants.
c) At the end, the levelised energy costs are the central economic parameter that decide
whether a plant is competitive or not. That’s why the results of the study of consultant B
are more valuable than those of the study of consultant A.

30
Exercises
A parabolic trough power plant is to be built near Tamanrasset/Algeria (latitude 23°). The plant is
planned to have a nominal net electric power of 200MW. The location within the Sahara requires dry
cooling.

a) i) Calculate the gross power the power plant must have at design conditions. Make use (here
and in the rest of the exercise) of the simplified performance model for a parabolic trough
power plant without storage, which was presented in 4.2.2.

ii) What is the thermal solar field power at the design point? The power block efficiency at the
design point is 0.37.

b) What must be the aperture area of the solar field? The following data are given:
‐ The design point is determined for an incidence angle of zero.
‐ Concentration ratio is 82.
‐ Emissivity of the selectively coated absorber tubes for the thermal radiation at ambient
temperature and at heat transfer medium temperature is taken to be 0.1.

‐ The convection loss factor is .

‐ The ambient temperature is 26°C.
‐ The mean heat transfer medium temperature is 340°C.
‐ Reflectivity of the mirrors:
‐ Transmission factor of the mirror glass cover:
‐ Optical factor of the mirror surface (quality factor):
‐ Transmission factor of the receiver glass tube:
‐ Absorptance of the absorber tube for the solar spectrum:

c) We consider now the power plant on 21st march at solar noon.

i) What is the incidence angle?

ii) What would be the thermal solar field output if a DNI of was measured?
The following data are given additionally (you will need them to calculate the
geometrical correction term):
‐ Collector rows are 150m long.
‐ The focal length of the parabolic troughs is 1.70m.

iii) Calculate the gross electric power under the mentioned conditions!
iv) What is the net electric power?

31
Solutions
a) i)

ii)

b)

(because of )

c)

i) (because of )

ii)
At first is calculated:
Cosine correction:
Shadowing correction: (no shadowing, which happens only when the Sun is
near the horizon, but not at solar noon)

End loss correction:

Incident angle correction:

Now the thermal solar field output is calculated:

iii)
32
iv)

33