Cost Drivers for Solar Thermal Central Receiver Power Plants

摘要

System cost, when combined with performance and financing, determines the overall economic feasibility of a solar thermal central receiver system or any other energy system. The purpose of this paper is to present information that will allow preliminary evaluation of initial capital and annual operation and maintenance (O and M) costs for solar thermal central receiver systems. Cost estimating equations are presented for the principal solar thermal components. These equations are a function of one or two design variables and allow one to estimate the cost of a component over a broad range of the controlling design variable. (ERA citation 12:038751)