Analysis on solar retrofit in combined cycle power plants

The main results of the technical analysis were: For a 9FA Three Pressure CCPP designed and strictly limited by the ISO case, approximately 7 additional MWe ( 2% of the installed CCPP power) can be obtained at 30 C, at a gross thermal e ciency of 37% by injecting to the steam cycle 21 MWth of solar heat with the saturated high pressure method. In the case of the cold reheat steam injected to the cycle, also approximately 7 MWe can be obtained at 3030 C of ambient temperature, at a gross thermal e ciency of almost 30%. Comparing these results we can conclude that for obtaining the same amount of power output the size of the solar eld whit the SHP is smaller. We will use the SHP in the construction of the solar eld project. As the PTC technology has a better optical e ciency the amount of radiation absorbed per unit of surface is bigger than with PPC technology. That means that the land surface needed for the PTC technology is smaller than for the PPC technology. But the fact that the cost of the PPC technology is much smaller than the PTC technology, makes PPC a more attractive technology due to its higher pro tability. Taking into account that producing one kWh of electricity with conventional technologies costs about 5-6 ce=kWh we can conclude that the PPC allows us to obtain a competitive price of electricity by using a cleaner technology. That means that the construction of the solar eld for helping the CCPP is a feasible project and the initial investment will be recovered plus bene ts. Besides, running the solar eld for a range of temperatures between 0 C to 45 C, allows us to obtain higher radiation with approximately the same costs. The di erence between solar boosting and the increased solar boosting is the more expensive solar eld due to its wider extension, but with the bene ts of producing more solar energy and reducing the costs of electricity production.Ingeniería Industria