Binary power generation system by utilizing solar energy in Malaysia

For binary cycle power plants, the energy of solar may be utilized as a heating source. Malaysia has a tropical climate, which receives 4500 kWh/m2 of solar irradiation on a daily basis and roughly 12 h of sunshine every day. Thus, the potential of binary power cycle plants in Malaysia by utilizing the energy of solar as a source of heat is very promising. However, to date, no feasibility study on binary power cycle generation by using the energy of solar as a source of heat in Malaysia has been conducted. Therefore, in this work, a techno-economic analysis on the proposed binary power cycle generation in Malaysia is conducted using commercially available software, HOMER and MATLAB Simulink. The analysis is conducted to assess the proposed binary power generation implementation in Malaysia. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) and Teaching Learning Based Optimization (TLBO) are three separate metaheuristic algorithms that are exploited so as to determine the optimum cost of economic of the project. From the results obtained in this work, TLBO gives the most optimized economic cost compared to PSO and ABC. Also, it is found that binary power cycle generation by using energy of solar as a source of heat is feasible in Malaysia.(c) 2022 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University.

Automated summary

Binary cycle power plants have the potential to utilize solar energy as a heating source in Malaysia, which has a high solar irradiation and sunshine duration. However, no feasibility study has been conducted on this topic. In this work, a techno-economic analysis was performed using HOMER and MATLAB Simulink, with Teaching Learning Based Optimization showing the most optimized economic cost. The study confirms the feasibility of binary power cycle generation using solar energy as a heat source in Malaysia.