Trough integration into power plants - a study on the performance and economy of integrated solar combined cycle systems

Parabolic trough solar technology has been proven at nine commercial Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS) power plants that are operating in the California Mojave desert. These plants utilize steam Rankine cycle power plants, and as a result, most people associate parabolic trough solar technology with steam Rankine cycle power plant technology. Although these plants are clearly optimized for their particular application, other power cycle designs may be appropriate in other situations. Of particular interest is the integration of parabolic trough solar technology with combined cycle power plant technology. This configuration is referred to as integrated solar combined cycle systems (ISCCS). Four potential projects in India, Egypt, Morocco, and Mexico are considering the ISCCS type solar power cycle configurations. The key questions are when is the ISCCS configuration preferred over the SEGS power cycle configuration and how is the ISCCS plant designed to optimize the integration of the solar field and the power cycle. This paper reviews the results of a collaborative effort under the International Energy Agency SolarPACES organization to address these questions and it shows the potential environmental and economic benefits of each configuration. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.