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In this research, the effectiveness of dry cooled concentrating solar power plants in hot arid regions similar to those in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is investigated. A previous study (Liqreina, 2014) has proven that dry cooled Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) parabolic trough power plants are an attractive option in such regions mainly due to the high solar irradiation flux present, which compensates the efficiency losses caused by replacing wet cooling by dry cooling systems. This work further investigates improvements of the performance of dry cooled CSP plants in the MENA region by optimizing their design configurations and adapting them for local conditions. Ma’an area in southern Jordan is a representative of the MENA region; it is selected as a case study location for this study. Design configurations and optimization are performed for the local conditions of this site.

The configurations of the reference Andasol-type power plant considered in Liqreina (2014) are varied in this work to characterize the efficiency of the power plant under different conditions and in a later step, to find an optimum design of the plant. The results of this study reassure that dry cooled concentrating power plants in sunny arid regions are a competitive option and can produce power at competitive costs.

The plant simulation results show that plants with oversized solar field (solar multiple of 2) and large thermal energy storage systems (TES of 7-9 full load hours) perform better and can generate power at lower costs than smaller plants. Furthermore, it is concluded that increasing the overall plant size decreases the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) due to the reduction in plants’ specific costs and the increase in operating efficiency. Power generation costs obtained from this study for dry cooled power plants options range from 12.88 to 13.40 c(sic)/kW h(el),for three different sizes and 13.13 c(sic)/kW h(el) for 50 MW wet cooled CSP plant.

Given these excellent economic conditions, it is concluded that CSP dry cooled power plants provide an alternative for green power production given that excellent solar conditions are available at a plant site. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.