Towards the hybridization of gas-fired power plants: A case study of Algeria

The vast solar resource available in Algeria and the high temperatures recorded in this country make the solar thermal integration of gas-fired power plants (ISCC) an attractive method to increase yield by means of solar energy. A feasibility study of potential solar thermal hybridization with parabolic trough technology was performed in 21 Algerian open cycle gas turbines and combined cycle gas turbines, which represent about 97% of electricity generation. An yield increase of 24.9 GW h/year and CO2 emission savings of 9.91 kton/year were determined to be feasible with solar field sizes ranging from 30 to 37 loops in combined cycle centrals. In the case of open cycle gas turbines, a solar potential of 1085.7 GW h/year and CO2 emission savings of 652.1 kton/year were recorded with solar shares in the range of 3-4%. The ISCC production model is provided herein as complementary material for future replications of this study (freely available without restrictions in R language) at http://www.github.com/EDMANSolar/AlgeriaSolar.