Modeling Simulation and Performance Evaluation of Parabolic Dish Solar Power Plant
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Date
2011-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
A solar parabolic dish electric power generation system is one option for a high temperature
solar concentrator that is capable to achieve a high system performance. This results from the
fact that it combines an excellent concentrator, a very efficient cavity receiver and a high
performance heat engine.
The Stirling dish system produces electricity using concentrated solar thermal energy to drive a
Stirling engine. The system utilizes a parabolic mirror equipped with dual-axis tracking to
concentrate solar radiation onto a thermal receiver integrated in the Stirling engine. The receiver
consists of a heat exchanger designed to transfer the absorbed solar energy to the working fluid,
typically, hydrogen. The Stirling engine then converts the absorbed thermal energy to
mechanical power by expanding the gas in a piston-cylinder in a manner similar to a gas or
diesel engine. The linear motion is converted to a rotary motion to turn a generator to produce
electricity.
The electrical output of the system is proportional to the size of the reflector, its optical losses
and the efficiencies of the Stirling engine and the generator.
This thesis outlines the theory and models for the collector, receiver, and Stirling engine, the
parasitic power. An energy prediction model was created for solar Stirling dish systems to
predict the location dependent long term performance of these systems. The model analyzes the
performance of the parabolic mirror, receiver, Stirling engine, and the parasitic power
consumption to predict the net power produced.
The power plant analyzed in this paper has a capacity of generating 10MW electric power. The
performance prediction models were implemented in EES and TRNSYS and include location
dependent properties that affect the performance based on the direct normal insolation, ambient
temperature, density of air (altitude), sun elevation angle, and the wind speed.
The cost and financial analysis is made for the Dish System. Solar Advisor Model is used to
make this analysis under Kombolcha weather condition. This analysis is used to determine the
different costs associated with the power plant. The cash flow for the 30 years of operation of the
power plant is also shown.
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Keywords
Parabolic Dish, Simulation, Solar Power