Energetic, economic, and environmental (3 E) performances of high concentrated photovoltaic large scale installations: Focus on spatial analysis of Morocco.

Producing electricity from a renewable source is a major challenge in Morocco nowadays and high concentrated photovoltaic (HCPV) is becoming an attractive solution to ensure clean energy generation due to its high efficiency. The aim of this paper is to estimate the « Energetic, economic, and environmental » performances of large scale HCPV power plants in the major Moroccan climatic zones and to compare their feasibility to PV plants. The mathematical model for estimating the energetic, economic, and environmental performances of large scale HCPV plants is shown, sensitivity and comparison analysis are exhibited. Another goal of the paper is the optimization of the performances of the algorithm through the study of the effect of different parameters. Our major finding is that the large scale HCPV plants are more competitive than PV plants in Errachidia climatic zone where the (capacity factor, LCOE) take the values (26.07%,8.57c$/kWh). Moreover, the capacity factor of large scale HCPV power plants is the most sensitive to the temperature coefficient while the (LCOE nominal , LCOE real , NPV) are the most sensitive to the analysis period. The quantity of CO 2 mitigated reaches a maximal value in the Errachidia zone with 2.59 × 105 tons of carbon per year avoided, and the cost of carbon gained there is estimated to be 10.4 M$. Innovative GIS maps of energetic, economic, and environmental performances of large scale HCPV power plants for all Morocco are given. Image 1 • Mathematical model for assessing the performances of HCPV plants. • Optimization of performances of large scale HCPV plants in Morocco. • Sensitivity study is conducted. • Large scale HCPV plants are more competitive than PV plants in Errachidia zone. • Innovative GIS maps are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]