Energy cost optimization of Linear Fresnel Reflector (LFR) systems for different regions of installation

M.P.G. Sirimanna and J.D. Nixon

Energy, 2024, vol. 306, issue C

Abstract: The Linear Fresnel Reflector (LFR) is a promising Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CSP) technology due to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness. This paper presents a novel method for optimizing the Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) for site-specific LFR systems. The method integrates ray tracing and a thermal model with a genetic algorithm to simulate and optimize LFR designs for three different annual solar irradiance profiles. For an LFR with a standard evacuated tube receiver with a 70 mm diameter, the optimal design variables are determined to be within the ranges of 8.9–9.2 m for receiver height, 18–22 for the number of mirrors, 0.63–0.81 m for mirror width and 0.10–0.13 m for mirror spacing. The results show that the optimized LFR design variables remain relatively consistent across different locations, allowing for the efficient use of one design in multiple locations. A sensitivity analysis shows that the LCOE is predominantly affected by receiver height. Comparing the optimized designs with recent commercial LFR installations reveals that, when 6 hours of thermal energy storage is used, LCOE savings of up to 20% are still achievable. Overall, the study demonstrates that there are still substantial LFR design improvements that can be made to reduce the cost of electricity from an LFR system and make it a cost-competitive solution for clean power generation.

Keywords: Linear fresnel collector (LFC); Concentrating solar thermal power (CSP); Ray tracing; Genetic algorithm (GA); Levelised cost of electricity (LCOE); Solar multiple (SM) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544224018140
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:306:y:2024:i:c:s0360544224018140

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2024.132040

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().