Feasibility study of a linear Fresnel Concentrating Solar Power plant located in Ponce, Puerto Rico

High fossil fuels price and stringent environmental regulations pose the electrical generation industry new challenges. Since the beginning of the 1980s, large-scale grid-connected Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) has been developed in regions with a strong direct normal irradiation (DNI). CSP allows converting solar power into heat before it can be used to power a turbine and generate electricity. Using the System Advisor Model (SAM) software, we simulate two linear Fresnel solar plants located in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The first a Direct Steam Generation (DSG) plant with no fossil backup or thermal energy storage. The second a Linear Fresnel plant with molten salts as Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) as well as the storage medium for a 4-hour storage system. We compare these two and present the results in this paper.