Performance analysis of an improved 30 MW parabolic trough solar thermal power plant

As a promising application of solar energy, parabolic trough solar thermal power generation technology is one of the most important methods of solar thermal utilization. This paper takes the SEGS VI parabolic trough plant as the research object and proposes an improved 30 MW parabolic trough solar thermal power plant. An optimization model is established for the overall plant efficiency, and the design of the solar field of the improved plant is presented with an explanation in this paper. This paper uses the commercial software Ebsilon to establish the simulation models of the SEGS VI Plant and the improved plant and conducts a performance analysis of the two plants under design and operating conditions. The results show that the improved plant based on sectional heating can reduce the average working temperature of the thermal oil. The solar field efficiency increases by 0.52% and the overall plant efficiency increases by 0.24% under the design conditions. The daily mean solar field efficiency data increase by 0.53%, and the overall plant efficiency increases by 0.22% under operating conditions. Simultaneously, the number of collectors in the solar field also decreases, which has good application prospects. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.