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The choice of condenser cooling option for concentrating solar power (CSP) plants is likely to affect their techno-economic feasibility. In view of this, an attempt has been made to assess relative techno-economics and net life cycle CO 2 -eq emissions mitigation (LCCM) potential for 50 MW nominal capacity wet-cooled and dry-cooled parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) and dry-cooled solar power tower (SPT) based CSP plants with 6.0 h of thermal energy storage for two potential locations in India. It was observed that though dry cooling is likely to save significant amount of water (∼92%) in PTSC based plants, the same shall result in higher capital cost, higher performance penalty and higher parasitic power requirements leading to around 20% higher levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) as compared to wet-cooled PTSC based plants. It was also observed that the dry-cooled SPT based plants shall be able to deliver up to 4.5% higher annual electricity output and LCOE is also likely to be lowered by 13% than wet-cooled PTSC based plants. Considering emissions embodied and emissions associated with water transport/extraction from the source and water treatment, the estimation of LCCM from the PTSC and SPT based CSP plants have also been undertaken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An attempt has been made to estimate the unit capital cost of parabolic trough collector (PTC) based concentrating solar power (CSP) plants in India to facilitate their financial appraisal. While reviewing approaches mentioned in the literature, a significant variation is observed in unit capital cost estimates for a 50 MW wet cooled without storage PTC based plant (US $1700 to US $2662 per kW). To internalize the effect of alternate condenser cooling options and thermal energy storage on the unit capital cost, a new approach that is based on inventory of material used and associated costs have been suggested. With the use of this approach, the unit capital cost of a 50 MW wet cooled PTC plant is estimated at US $1734 per kW. Similarly, for the same nominal capacity plant with dry cooling, the unit capital cost is estimated at US $1994 per kW. Moreover, the effects of increased nominal capacity and hours of thermal energy storage on the unit capital cost have also been investigated. • Cost estimates for a 50 MW PTC based CSP plant in India. • Review of potential approaches for estimating capital cost of PTC based CSP plants. • Study of cost implications of condenser cooling options and thermal energy storage. • Effect of the nominal capacity of the plant and hours of storage on the unit cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]