Solar Thermal Organic Rankine Cycle (STORC) power plant as an alternative to the steam power plant with a parabolic trough system in South Africa

Abstract

This paper analyses the possibilities of incorporating the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology to a parabolic trough technology, reduces the cost of testing and optimisation by providing tools for the evaluation and optimisation of existing and proposed power plants. The thermodynamic potential for Solar-Thermal Organic Rankine Cycle (STORC) power plants was investigated by using Matlab Simulink ® and Thermolib library software. The methodology was implemented based on principles and specifications of some existing plant designs. The model basically considered four major elements: the solar resources model, the solar collector model, the fluid transfer and storage model and the ORC model. Based on the study outcome, the integrated model was created to analyse the variations in geographic, geometrical properties with thermo-physical properties for a specific period of the possible power output from the plant. Power output variation from the model results provided a tool for the case studies on the sensitivity and performance analysis and show that the plant will provide more power and higher efficiencies.