Solar steam reforming of natural gas integrated with a gas turbine power plant: Economic assessment

A hybrid power plant wherein solar steam reforming of natural gas and a steam injected gas turbine power plant are integrated for solar syngas production and use has been developed by the authors. In this plant a gas turbine is fed by a mixture of natural gas and solar syngas, which is mainly composed of hydrogen and water steam, from mid-low temperature steam reforming reaction whose heat duty is supplied by a parabolic trough Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant. The paper shows an economic assessment of the proposed solution if applied, in particular, in North-African Countries: a comparison is made between a traditional system and the innovative proposed one. The Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) computation shows how the solar hybridization can contribute to a reduction of electric energy production costs of about -2.7%. Net Present Value (NPV) analysis shows how, at the end of plant life, the hybrid plant produces a higher NPV, thus producing a net benefit about 11% higher than the traditional one. Moreover, the hybrid power plant LCOE and NPV have been computed at different electric energy revenues and natural gas costs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.