THERMOECONOMIC OPTIMISATION OF SOLAR HYBRIDISATION OPTIONS FOR EXISTING COMBINED-CYCLE POWER PLANTS

Paper in proceeding, 2011

A model of an integrated solar combined cycle power plant has been developed in order to examine the performance of a combined-cycle plant when retrofitted with solar collectors. The model was then used for multi-objective thermo-economic optimisation of both the power plant performance and cost, using a population-based algorithm. In order to examine the trade-offs that must be made and identify ‘optimal’ hybridisation schemes and operating conditions, two conflicting objectives will be considered, namely minimum investment costs and maximum annual solar share. It was found that only small annual solar shares (~1%) can be achieved during retrofitting, but that the cost of the additional solar-generated electricity is comparably low, with equivalent levelised electricity costs of ≤10 c€/kWh.