The Role of Small-Scale CSP Plants in Future Energy Market Case Study: A Solar Tower Driven Combined GT and ORC with TES

Decentralized solar power plants are a promising solution to provide heat and electricity, especially for remote locations with no access to wide area synchronous grids. The thermal energy storage (TES) of concentrating solar power (CSP) technology is currently a feasible storage solution that can ensure dispatchable delivery of power through sustainable energy resources. Moreover, unlike photovoltaic plants with a battery energy storage system (PV+BESS) or wind energy technologies, CSP can be a direct provider of industrial heat at a range of temperature levels for various applications. It can also be configured as a combined heat and power (CHP) plant and/or a multi-objective plant providing drinking water through desalination. The aim of this study is to technically and economically evaluate the performance of a small-scale CSP plant, identify the most relevant improvements necessary for such a system and develop a roadmap to bring small-scale CSP projects to market.