Enhancing Yazd’s Combined Cycle Power Plant Performance Through Concentrated Solar Power Integration

Combined Cycle Power Plants (CCPP) suffer from drops in power and efficiency due to summer time ambient conditions. This power reduction is especially important in regions with extreme summer ambient conditions. Given the substantial investment and labor involved in the establishment and operation of these power plants, mitigating power loss using various methods emerges as a promising solution. In this context, the integration of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technologies has been proposed in this research not primarily to improve the overall performance efficiency of power plants as other recent studies entail, but to ensure continuous power generation throughout summer days, improving stability. This research aims to address this issue by conducting an extensive study covering the different scenarios in which Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) can be integrated into the power plant. Multiple scenarios for integration were defined including CSP integration in the Heat Recovery Steam Generator, CSP-powered chiller for Gas Turbine Compressor Cooling and Gas Turbine Combustion Chamber Preheating using CSP, and scenarios with inlet air fog cooling and hybrid scenarios were studied. This systematic analysis resulted in the selection of the scenario where the CSP is integrated into the combined cycle power plant in the HRSG section as the best case. The selected scenario was benchmarked against its equivalent model operating in Seville’s ambient conditions. By comparing the final selected model, both Yazd and Seville experience a noticeable boost in power and efficiency while reaching the maximum integration capacity at different reflector lengths (800 m for Seville and 900 m for Yazd). However, both cities reach their minimum fuel consumption at an approximate 300 m total reflector length.