Retrofitting gas turbine units parabolic trough concentrated solar power for sustainable electricity generation

Shams1 is hybrid solar/natural-gas concentrated solar power (CSP) plants. The plant is also integrated with a booster gas-fired-heaters for steam superheating. In addition to direct fire-heaters to the heat transfer fluid (HTF) for supplying thermal energy during the night or whenever the solar irradiance level is dimmed. However, there is a more sustainable way to avoid power-generation-outages caused by transient weather conditions without a significant plant reconstruction, i.e. integration with gas turbines. In this study, a thermodynamic model of Shams1 integration with gas turbines is developed to investigate the gas turbine capacity and the exergitic efficiency of the supplied gas with and without the gas turbine involvement. The HTF heaters will receive the needed thermal energy from the gas turbines exhaust gases instead of the direct fire-heater (case1). Another potential is replacing the booster fire heaters with the gas turbine system as well. (case2). A parametric study is conducted to determine the size and the requirements of a gas turbine system for the specified power target demand in addition to a feasibility study for the proposed system. The results showed that using two gas turbines for the HTF heater significantly improved the overall efficiency and reduces the CO ₂ emission. Replacing the booster heater with two gas turbines improves the efficiency up to excess air factor of 2.5.