Solar thermal power generation in India - a techno-economic analysis

Limited fossil resources and environmental problems require new sustainable energy supply options, that use renewable energies and are economic at the same lime. Solar Thermal Electricity (STE) generating systems are proven renewable energy technologies and often a very cost effective way to produce electricity from solar radiation. In India, the electricity demand is drastically increasing. At the same time, solar resources and large wasteland areas are widely available. These factors together make India an ideal country for the implementation of STE-technologies. In this paper, we analyze the potential and the cost-effectiveness of centralized and decentralized STE-generation in India. Comparing the levelized electricity costs (LEC) for STE with the corresponding LEC for the electricity generating options used at present, we find that STE is an economically viable technology under favorable conditions, i.e, in areas with high insolation levels and provided that capital is available at low interest rates. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.