Design of a Solar CSP Plant for Ma'an, Jordan

Solar CSP is a great method for electrical generation, especially in Ma'an as it has a very high solar irradiance. The manuscript investigate the proper design of a concentrated solar power plant for Maan, Jordan, a location of excellent solar resource. SAM simulation software was used for power output estimation. The result showed that the annual average capacity factor is 91.4% thanks to the oversizing of the solar field and the thermal energy storage by molten salt. The economic feasibility of this power plant was investigated by considering a lifetime of 30 years, the LCOE was found to be 7.41 c/kWh. Opposite to solar PV, electricity is produced over most of the day and not only during daylight time, thus necessitating limited external storage or energy supply by fully dispatchable conventional sources to be integrated into a grid.