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The classical solar chimney offers passive electricity and water production at a low operating cost. However, the solar chimney suffers from high capital cost and low energy output density per construction area. The high capital investment increases the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), making the design less economically competitive versus other solar technologies. This work presents a new noteworthy solar chimney design for high energy density and maximizing water production. This was achieved by integrating a cooling tower with the solar chimney and optimizing the operating mood. The new design operated day and night as a hybrid solar double-chimney power plant (HSDCPP) for continuous electricity and water production. During the daytime, the HSDCPP operated as a cooling tower and solar chimney, while during the night, it operated as a cooling tower. The annual energy output from the cooling towers and solar chimney (i.e., the HSDCPP) totaled 1,457,423 kWh. The annual energy production from the cooling towers alone was 1,077,134 kWh, while the solar chimney produced 380,289 kWh. The annual energy production of the HSDCPP was ~3.83-fold greater than that of a traditional solar chimney (380,289 kWh). Furthermore, the HSDCPP produced 172,344 tons of fresh water per year, compared with zero tons in a traditional solar chimney. This led to lower overall capital expenditures maximizing energy production and lower LCOE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Boosting SCPP performance using photovoltaic (PV) cell-based hybridization. • Analysis with model equations scrutinizing existing experimental and numerical works. • The potential of hybrid PV-SCPPs for increased energy supply and sustainability. • Advancing renewable energy by leveraging PV cells and SCPPs for a sustainable future. • Performance enhancements addressing design modifications and innovative strategies. Solar chimney power plants (SCPPs) are gaining attention as sustainable energy solutions, yet their efficiency and energy output have limitations. To enhance these factors, various hybridization strategies are being investigated, such as integrating solar photovoltaic (PV) cells, waste heat recovery, geothermal energy, biomass, thermal storage, and heat exchangers. Among these, the combination of PV cells with SCPPs has shown particularly promising results. For instance, using semitransparent PV cells can lead to a significant 29% increase in power generation. Transforming traditional PV-based systems into hybrid PV-SCPP configurations can harness the complementary strengths of both technologies, resulting in more reliable, sustainable, and uninterrupted energy production. This review presents a comprehensive and exhaustive study of all these hybrid PV systems, which is a unique contribution not previously addressed in any literature. The study covers their operational principles, methodologies, challenges, numerical approaches, exergy analysis, and economic considerations, providing a comprehensive overview of current advancements and laying the groundwork for future commercialization of integrated systems. The review highlights key developments in methods for enhancing the performance of standalone SCPPs, with a strong emphasis on hybrid PV-SCPP systems aimed at boosting efficiency and output. Furthermore, it suggests several innovative designs for future exploration of these hybrid systems, offering valuable insights for researchers and policymakers to steer further research and development in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This study presents a novel design that combines cooling tower (CT) and traditional solar chimney power plant (SCPP) technologies for electricity generation and seawater desalination. The proposed hybrid solar chimney power plant (HSCPP) shares the operation of the chimney part and the bi‐directional turbine between the SCPP and CT, allowing alternative operation of the CT during the nighttime and the SCPP during the daytime, and achieving continuous system utilization. The performance of the HSCPP design was validated against baseline models using 1 year of weather data from the city of Aqaba in Jordan. Results revealed that the HSCPP has the potential to produce ~50% electricity (528 MWh/year) higher than the traditional SCPP (365 MWh/year). The annual seawater desalination capacity of the HSCPP was estimated at 138300 m3, which is 1.5 folds higher than the traditional SCPP. The HSCPP reduced the annual CO2 emissions by 40% (~500 tons) compared to traditional SCPP with annual revenue of US$190 000. Furthermore, the results show that the HSCPP is 1.4 times more efficient than the traditional SCPP. The HSCPP achieved a system utilization factor of 0.73% compared to 0.52% for the traditional SCPP. The HSCPP showed promising sustainable and economical technology for the production of electricity and water while reducing the emission of GHG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work involves a new and novel upgrading design to the classical solar chimney power plant (SCPP) structure. The SCPP design was modified by adding a co-centric secondary external chimney to the SCPP structure to enhance energy production. In the new improved design, named the solar double-chimney power plant (SDCPP), the internal chimney, operates like a traditional SCPP to produce electricity during the daytime whereas the secondary external chimney operates as 10 cooling towers (CT) in a series. Each CT is equipped with a turbine and water sprinklers for further energy production. The new design offers the operation of the SCPP during the day and the continuous operation of the CT (day-and-night). A mathematical model that includes the energy and mass balance equations of the system was built using MATLAB. The SDCPP system produced up to 993 MWh of electrical energy, which is 2.6 times higher than the traditional SCPP (377 MWh). The new design configuration achieved a percentage of thermal efficiency (%ηth) of 1.6%, which is 200 times greater than the SCPP. The economic assessment of the new system revealed a 50% reduction in the localized cost of energy (LCOE) compared with traditional SCPP. The key advantage of the new design is related to the use of low-cost material in constructing the secondary chimney to reduce the fixed capital cost and prompt the economic feasibility of the system. Overall, the proposed SDCPP offers a feasible and economic solution to produce electricity and to potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Abstract Solar chimneys have the drawback of being unproductive at night. This study proposed a hybrid solar chimney integrated with an external heat source to complement solar energy for uninterrupted power generation. Flue-gas channels were utilized to supply air into the collector passage. The hybrid arrangement was investigated experimentally and numerically. An experimental model comprising a 6 m-diameter solar air collector, 6.65 m-height chimney, and four flue thermal channels was designed and fabricated. The hybrid system was further simulated using ANSYS-Fluent. The numerical procedure was validated by comparing with experimental measurements for a conventional solar chimney with mean differences of 8.7% and 7.8% in air flow velocity and air temperature rise, respectively. Results showed that the hybrid approach considerably enhanced the plant performance. The insertion of flue channels, even with no flue-gas flow, enhanced the velocity and temperature by 6.87% and 6.3%, respectively measured at the chimney base. Simulation results with 0.0015 kg/s at 116 °C flue gas in the thermal channels demonstrated that the air-mass flow rate and collector efficiency enhanced by 12.0%, and 64.0%, respectively. This study proved that the proposed technique can resolve the setback of night operation of solar chimney power plants and enable 24/7 power production. Highlights • New approach of hybrid solar chimney by integration with external heat source is introduced. • Four operational case, one for conventional SC and three for hybrid solar chimney are investigated. • Experimental analysis is adopted and reported for conventional and hybrid solar chimneys. • Validated numerical analysis technique is discussed and the validation procedure is explained. • Prove of continuous 24/7 operation of the new hybrid solar chimney is articulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a case study of a novel hybrid solar chimney power plant (HSCPP) design's performance in the city of Doha, Qatar. The HSCPP construction is similar to the traditional solar chimney power plant (SCPP) but with the addition of water sprinklers installed at the top of the chimney. This allowed the solar chimney (SC) to operate as a cooling tower (CT) during the nighttime and operate as an SC during the daytime, hence providing a continuous 24-h operation. The results showed that the HSCPP produced ~633 MWh of electrical energy per year, compared to ~380 MWh of energy produced by the traditional SCPP. The results also showed that the HSCPP was able to produce 139,000 tons/year of freshwater, compared to 90,000 tons/year produced by the traditional SCPP. The estimated CO2 emission reduction (~600 tons/year) from the HSCPP is twice that of the traditional SCPP (~300 tons/year). The results clearly show that the HSCPP outperformed the traditional SCPP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work involves a new and novel upgrading design to the classical solar chimney power plant (SCPP) structure. The SCPP design was modified by adding a co-centric secondary external chimney to the SCPP structure to enhance energy production. In the new improved design, named the solar double-chimney power plant (SDCPP), the internal chimney, operates like a traditional SCPP to produce electricity during the daytime whereas the secondary external chimney operates as 10 cooling towers (CT) in a series. Each CT is equipped with a turbine and water sprinklers for further energy production. The new design offers the operation of the SCPP during the day and the continuous operation of the CT (day-and-night). A mathematical model that includes the energy and mass balance equations of the system was built using MATLAB. The SDCPP system produced up to 993 MWh of electrical energy, which is 2.6 times higher than the traditional SCPP (377 MWh). The new design configuration achieved a percentage of thermal efficiency (%ηth) of 1.6%, which is 200 times greater than the SCPP. The economic assessment of the new system revealed a 50% reduction in the localized cost of energy (LCOE) compared with traditional SCPP. The key advantage of the new design is related to the use of low-cost material in constructing the secondary chimney to reduce the fixed capital cost and prompt the economic feasibility of the system. Overall, the proposed SDCPP offers a feasible and economic solution to produce electricity and to potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]