Economic analysis of an electricity and desalinated water cogeneration plant in Cyprus.

AbstractThis paper builds on and extends the R&D work on the techno-economic analysis of the cogeneration of desalinated water and electricity by the Cyprus Institute (2012) (Solar Thermal Cogeneration of Electricity and Water: Research and Development study for a Concentrated Solar Power—Desalinization of Sea Water (CSP–DSW) C.N. Papanicolas & G. Tzamtzis editors. The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2012. ISBN: 978-9963-2858-0-8). Three different Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant configuration options for operating in Cyprus are examined in this paper: an electricity-only, electricity with Reverse Osmosis desalination and electricity with Multi Effect-distillation desalination. All plants’ rated output is 4 MWe, and desalination capacity is 5,035 m3/d. A discounted cash flow model was developed and used, designed to represent the financial performance of the CSP–DSW concept. The expected financial costs for equipment, operation and maintenance and replacements were estimated. The expected performan...