The dual-receiver SUNDISC cycle has previously been shown to generate electricity at a lower levelized cost and more reliably than combined cycle CSP plants without the low-pressure receiver. The utilization of such a plant as the provider of baseload power to an off-grid consumer, for example a mine, in northern Chile is investigated. The chosen location in the Atacama desert has high solar radiation and reasonably low ambient temperatures, however, the high altitude causes a severe decrease in Brayton cycle power output.
The plant is simulated to provide an almost constant power output throughout the year from the two power cycles. Plant configurations with practically no fuel co-firing reach the lowest levelized cost of electricity, 0.14 USD/(kWe h) based on a conservative cost model, at less than 800 h annual time of no power generation. If fuel-based operation is allowed during some of these hours, the plant operates throughout the 8760 h per year and generates electricity at less than 0.15 USD/(kWe h) with co-firing rates of less than 8 %. All these cost figures are significantly lower than for an alternative baseload off-grid solution based on Diesel generators.
