The performance prediction and techno-economic analyses of a stand-alone parabolic solar dish/stirling system, for Jamshoro, Pakistan

This study aims to propose a simulation as well as mathematical model to carry out the performance assessment and efficiency improvement of a stand-alone Parabolic Solar Dish Stirling (PSDS) system. The simulation for a 25 kW PSDS system is performed in the System Advisor Model (SAM) under the environmental conditions of Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan. The results show that the city has a good potential of direct solar irradiance with yearly average value of 1719.15 kWh/m(2)/y. The system can generate yearly 38.6 MWh with overall system net efficiency of 23.39%. Whereas, the maximum energy of 3.38 MWh is produced in month of January, due to high solar irradiance. However, the lowest energy of 2.15 MWh is produced in July, due to the monsoon spell in selected city. Furthermore, from the techno-economic analyses of the proposed system, the levelized cost of energy is found to be 0.13 $/kWh, which is quite low. As the Stirling Engine (SE) works at higher temperature, so, increasing the diameter of concentrator results more thermal energy at the cavity. The solar radiations are high around the solar noon, therefore, the operating temperature can damage the hot-side of SE due to thermal overloading. In future, to protect the hot-side of SE, it is recommended to use thermo electric generator.