Thermoeconomic assessment of solar-geothermal hybrid plants

Northern Chile presents the highest levels of solar radiation worldwide¹. In addition, Chile is located in the so called “pacific belt of fire”, region with high geothermal potential². In that context, the conditions in the northern region presents high potential for exploiting both sources in hybrid schemes. Several researchers have assessed the benefits that solar-geothermal hybrid schemes offer in terms of system’s performance. Nevertheless, due to the intrinsic variability of the solar resource a deep analysis is still needed, aiming to address the synergies of integrating both sources. This work presents a transient computational model using the software TRNSYS, considering the meteorological conditions of Apacheta, Antofagasta region. That simulation, allows to assess the annual performance of a single flash power plant, assisted by parabolic trough collectors, where the heat delivered by the solar collectors is employed for superheating the steam. Aiming to quantify the benefits of the hybridization, the methodology considers a thermoeconomic approach. The results evidence that the integration of both sources offers several synergies, that allows increasing the power generation during peak hours and reducing generation costs. Therefore, the hybrid scheme constitutes an alternative for delivering baseload electricity generation at competitive costs.