Simulation of GEMASOLAR-based solar tower plants for the Chinese energy market: Influence of plant downsizing and location change

In many countries that are experiencing a steep increase of energy demand, there is a growing challenge of responding to this demand by investing in renewable technologies for new power plants. Solar energy seems to be one of the best solutions to reduce the fossil fuels consumption for energy production purposes. In terms of high-power solar plants, concentrating towers are characterized by high efficiencies, but the investment costs are high as well. For this reason, a fundamental issue consists in simulating the solar tower behavior in different locations, in order to provide a precise estimation of both annual energy production and return of the investment. Among these types of solar plants, GEMASOLAR has been recently (2011) put in operation in Andalusia, Spain, and the data that have been obtained by this plant allow one to study its potential for application in different locations. The present work is aimed at simulating the GEMASOLAR plant behavior in some Chinese areas suitable for such a technology. All the simulations proposed here have been obtained through a Solar Advisor Model (SAM). Some of the simulations of the original plant have been modified forcing the plant to run without fossil fuel hybridization or changing its nominal power. After model validation, results have shown encouraging perspectives for the exploitation of this technology in China, with annual overall efficiencies of 14% for the 20 MW power plant (GEMASOLAR nominal power). In addition, the down-scaled plants have been optimized through native SAM software algorithm focusing on geometrical parameters. This procedure has been proved to be able of maintaining a high efficiency (14.97%) even for a 10 MW power plant. The focus has been on pilot plants, since they could represent the first step towards a deep exploitation of concentrating solar thermal power in China, with a relatively low capital risk.