Design and Comparative Techno-Economic Analysis of Two Solar Polygeneration Systems Applied for Electricity, Cooling and Fresh Water Production

Two solar polygeneration systems were investigated for electricity, cooling and fresh water production. In the first scenario (LFPS), the linear Fresnel (LF) solar field was used as thermal source of the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), absorption chiller (ACH) and multi-effect desalination (MED) unit. In the second scenario (PVPS), photovoltaic (PV) panels were considered as the electricity source to supply the electricity load that is required for lighting, electrical devices, compression chiller (CCH) and reverse osmosis (RO) units. A techno-economic comparison was made between two scenarios based on the land use factor (F), capacity utilization factor (CUF), payback period, levelized cost of electricity (LCE), levelized cost of cooling energy (LCC) and levelized cost of water (LCW). The calculations were conducted for four di fferent locations in order to determine the e ffect of solar radiation level on the LCE, LCC and LCW of systems in both scenarios. The results showed that the LCE and LCW of PVPS is lower than that of LFPS and the LCC of LFPS is lower than that of PVPS. Also, the payback period of LFPS and PVPS systems are obtained as 13.97 years and 13.54 years, respectively, if no incentive is considered for the electricity sale.