Performance model of Shams I solar power plant

Abstract

Paper presented to the 10th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Florida, 14-16 July 2014.

A study of Shams I solar power plant in Abu Dhabi has been conducted to generate a performance model via a spreadsheet. The plant consists of 192 loops containing single-axis parabolic trough collectors. These collectors track the sun and focus sunlight onto a Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) flowing in an absorber running in their focal line. That causes the temperature of the HTF to rise, which then heats the water flowing in a separate loop. This results in the formulation of vapor that is sent to a turbine. A generator is connected to the shaft of the turbine and it generates electricity due to the rotation of the shaft (caused by the expanding steam) [1]. The spreadsheet computes the annual output of the plant in1-hour increments. Input data columns include: solar radiation, ambient temperature, humidity, wind speed, time of day, day of year, and other geographical and optical constants.