Assessment of linear solar concentrating technologies for Greek climate

Abstract The objective of this work is to compare and to evaluate the performance parabolic trough solar collector (PTC) and the linear Fresnel solar reflector (LFR) for the climate conditions of Athens, Greece. These collectors are examined under the same operating conditions and they are evaluated energetically, exergetically and financially. The analysis is conducted for all the year period using twelve typical days, one for every month. Performance curves for the solar systems are taken from the literature in order to estimate the collector performance for different operating temperature levels, solar irradiation level and solar angles. According to the final results, the mean yearly incident angle modifier for the PTC is about 83.73%, while for the LFR is 58.66%, at the examined climate conditions. It has been found that the mean yearly thermal efficiency at 350 °C is 52.25% for the PTC and 35.39% for the LFR, while the mean yearly electrical efficiency of the equivalent power production system is 16.11% with the PTC and 10.92% with the LFR. The simple payback period for process heat production was found close to 3–4 years, while for power production close to 8–9 years. Moreover, it is proved that the specific cost of the LFR has to be lower than 185 €/m2 in order to be a more attractive choice financially compared to the PTC.

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