Scaling Cost Model for the Economics of Concentrated Solar Power Plants

Abstract

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is a renewable energy technology that can provide clean and reliable energy to regions with adequate environmental resources. Especially for the regions around the Mediterranean Sea, where solar radiation is significant, this technology seems to have great potential to meet the medium and long-term targets for emission-free energy production, once cost-related issues have been resolved. Factors such as the capacity of the plant, the efficiency of the thermodynamic cycle and individual components as well as the environmental conditions of the deployment area, all have a significant effect on the cost of energy production. This paper will discuss those issues and develop a cost scaling model that will provide the cost of unit energy production for different output capacities of a potential plant.