Energetic Study of Operating Andasol-1 CSP in Multiple Locations in the MENA Region

The use of CSP is gaining popularity nowadays due to the significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions along with the feasible implementation for large-scale power generation. In this study, a model of a PTC-based reference CSP plant (Andasol 1) will be simulated using System Advisor Model (SAM). The model is validated with the data published for Andasol-1 CSP. Then, the effect of changing the weather conditions for different sites located in the MENA on the energetic performance of this CSP is evaluated. In addition, two different cooling methodologies are compared. According to the findings, the power plant annual generation increases significantly by 34.2% and 29.1% when placed in Ma'an (Jordan) and Aswan (Egypt) with an increase in the capacity factor by 14.7% and 12.5% respectively. On the other hand, the power generation of the andasol-1 under the weather conditions of UAE performed much better than the reference location during the winter due to a major drop in the temperature in Granada.