Thermo-economic evaluation of solar concentrating technologies for industrial process heat production in Uruguay

Abstract

This work aims to identify the existing potential of solar energy for process heat production in Uruguay. Both Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) and Linear Fresnel Technology (LFT) are considered as candidate tecnologies for their application in the Uruguayan industrial sector, and their performance evaluated as if installed in five different locations. Simulations using TRNSYS were carried out in order to obtain the annual power produced and efficiency –among other results – for the two technologies, five locations and various working temperatures considered. Furthermore, an economic analysis was performed, in which the Levelized Cost of Heat (LCOH) was calculated for all the cases. Since most steam generators in Uruguay work with Fuel Oil and Firewood as fuel, comparison against these two energy sources is performed.