Performance evaluation of floating solarchimney power plant in Iran: estimation of technology progression and cost investigation

Abstract

High direct solar radiation and the vast desert areas in Iran are the main factors to the attraction in using solar technologies such as floating solar chimney power plant (FSCPP) for electrical and thermal roductions f energy. This article studies the performance of floating solar chimney technology for manufacturing urpose. In order to find the best area for the FSCPP, 14 different areas across the country are considered. he results revealed that FSCPP can produce 5–200 MW of electrical energy. Then a study was erformed according to the return of finance rate, net price value, and finance return period criterions. The results showed that these power plants are able to be built in large scales of 100 and 200 W of electricity with the annual capacity of 311 and 641 GW, respectively. However, a comparison etween the cost analysis of two tested models shows that the 200 MW power plant with the cost of 4,273.64 Rials is more beneficial.