Cairo University REMENA Program Faculty of Engineering

Potentials of RE in MENA Region

Excursion Report about

CSP Plant in Kuraymat

Handed by: Instructor: Mark Samir Ayad Prof. Dr. Adel Khalil

Winter 2012 - 2013

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)....................................................4

2. Potentials of CSP in Egypt.......................................................................................5

3. Overview of Kuraymat Power Plant Project............................................................6

4. Concept of Integrated Solar Combined Cycle (ISCC).............................................8

5. Kuraymat ISCC Plant Technical Description .......................................................10

6. Implementation and Operation of ISCC Plant.......................................................13

7. Recommendations and Future Projects..................................................................14

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Table of Figures

Figure 1: Annual Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI) for Egypt ( Source: Solar Med

Atlas)........................................................................................................................5 Figure 2: Geographic and Solar Data at Kuraymat (Source: NREA Kuraymat

Report) .....................................................................................................................6 Figure 3: Technical Concept of ISCC Plant in Kuraymat (Source: NREA Kuraymat

report).......................................................................................................................8 Figure 4: General Plant Layout of Kuraymat Plant (Source: NREA Kuraymat

report).....................................................................................................................10 Figure 5: Solar Collectors Loop Construction (Source: NREA Kuraymat

Presentation) ..........................................................................................................11 Figure 6: Solar Absorber Tubes of Kuraymat Solar Island (Source: NREA

Kuraymat presentation)..........................................................................................11 Figure 7: Photovoltaic cells producing current difference for tracking purpose

(Source: NREA Kuraymat presentation) ...............................................................12 Figure 8: Special mirror-washing truck in Kuraymat plant. (Source: NREA

Kuraymat report)....................................................................................................13 Figure 9: Irradiation Measuring Pyranometers (Source: NREA Kuraymat

presentation)...........................................................................................................14

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1. Introduction to Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is a technology which produces electricity by

concentrating solar energy in a single focal point. This concentrated energy is then used

to heat up a fluid, produce steam and activate turbines that produce electricity. CSP can

also provide combined heat and power, particularly in desalination plants. The focusing

of solar power can be achieved through different techniques such as parabolic trough,

parabolic dish or power tower systems. However, the global market has been dominated

by parabolic-trough plants, which account for 90 percent of CSP plants.

The exploitation of solar energy differs substantially depending on sunlight

conditions. This is because, in contrary to non-concentrating solar technologies, CSP

relies only on direct solar radiation which are beams coming from the sun directly to the

tracking concentrator. Interest is notable in US, Southern Europe, North Africa and the

Middle East, as well as India and China.

CSP is being widely commercialized and the CSP market has seen about 740

MW of generating capacity added between 2007 and the end of 2010. More than half of

was installed during 2010, bringing the global total to 1095 MW. Spain added 400 MW

in 2010, taking the global lead with a total of 632 MW. CSP growth is expected to

continue at a fast pace. As of April 2011, another 946 MW of capacity was under

construction in Spain with total new capacity of 1,789 MW expected to be in operation

by the end of 2013. A further 1.5 GW of parabolic-trough and power-tower plants were

under construction in the US, and contracts signed for at least another 6.2 GW.

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2. Potentials of CSP in Egypt

Egypt has been granted its position which lies within the Sun Belt, with

enormous amount of solar power radiation. Annual averages shows a yearly range of

2000-3000 kWh/m^2 of Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI). The sun shines for about 9-11

hours daily with negligible number of cloudy days per year.

This huge solar potential opens the door for great encouragement for solar

technologies and especially concentrated solar power plants technologies.

Figure 1: Annual Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI) for Egypt ( Source: Solar Med Atlas)

DNI

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3. Overview of Kuraymat Power Plant Project

The project site at Kuraymat, which is located about 90 km south from Cairo,

has been selected according to its high intensity direct solar radiation which reaches to

2400 kWh /m2 / year. Also, its near location to the River Nile which is the source of

cooling water, to the natural gas piping, and to the national electric grid made Kuyramat a

good candidate for this project.

Figure 2: Geographic and Solar Data at Kuraymat (Source: NREA Kuraymat Report)

The project is based on parabolic trough technology integrated with combined

cycle power plant using natural gas as a fuel. It is considered one of 3 similar projects

which are implemented in the region of North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Egypt), which

mainly depend on integrating solar field with combined cycle.

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Table 1: Technical data summary for the integrated solar combined cycle

power plant (Source: NREA Kuraymat report)

Table 2: Solar and Combined Cycle Islands data and completion dates,

(Source: NREA 2010/2011 report)

The capacity of the project is 140 MW including solar share of 20 MW. The

project had been started in construction phase in 2008 and was completed and put in

commercial operation on June 29th, 2011.

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The total cost of the plant was 340 Million US Dollar. From which, 50 Million

dollar was a grant from global environmental facility (GEF), World Bank. Another 190

Million US Dollar was issued as a soft loan from Japanese International co-operation

Agency (JICA) (0,75% interest – 40 years repayment period including 10 years grace

period). The remaining 100 Million US Dollar was provided by NREA as a capital cost

share by the government.

4. Concept of Integrated Solar Combined Cycle (ISCC)

Figure 3: Technical Concept of ISCC Plant in Kuraymat (Source: NREA Kuraymat report)

It would be useful in this context, to get into the benefits of using Integrated

Solar-Combined Cycle (ISCC) power plants. Obviously, the fact that the solar field and

the combined cycle share the same facilities decrease the investment costs of separate

plants of the same size. Moreover, the highly efficient combined power cycle serves as a

reliable source of electricity beside the solar electricity source. This type of ISCC helps

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the promotion of solar powered plants where “Solar- Only” plants may appear to be

insufficient or infeasible.

The plant operation sequence can be briefly explained as follows; the gas

turbine operates normally on natural gas, while the exhaust gases are used in a Heat

Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) to produce steam. In this step, comes the role of solar

thermal power which is used beside the exhaust gases to produce steam in a pre-heater,

boiler and a super heater to deliver steam to the steam turbine.

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5. Kuraymat ISCC Plant Technical Description

Figure 4: General Plant Layout of Kuraymat Plant (Source: NREA Kuraymat report)

The ISCC power plant in Kuraymat consists, as stated before, of a “Solar

Island” and of the conventional “Combined Cycle Island”. The layout above in Figure 4:

General Plant Layout of Kuraymat Plant (Source: NREA Kuraymat report)shows the four

sections of the solar field. The field consists of 40 loops for the HTF to enter at 293 and

leave at 393 degrees Celsius. Sections 3 and 4 include 9 loops each while sections 1 and 2

include 11 loops each. Each loop as shown in Figure 5 consists of 4 collector arrays in

series. The aperture area of this array is about 817.5 m^2 and of maximum effective

optical efficiency of 80%.

The other most significant component of the solar field is the absorber tube. A

brief view of its technical specifications is mentioned below its construction within

Figure 6 below.

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Figure 5: Solar Collectors Loop Construction (Source: NREA Kuraymat Presentation)

Figure 6: Solar Absorber Tubes of Kuraymat Solar Island (Source: NREA Kuraymat presentation)

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It is impossible to mention the technical details of a concentrating solar power

technology and pass by the topic of tracking the normal solar radiation. In Kuraymat,

continuous tracking is implemented for the N-S oriented parabolic troughs by the means

of a hydraulic mechanism. This is controlled by the difference in currents produced by

two small photovoltaic cells placed in the middle of the trough as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Photovoltaic cells producing current difference for tracking purpose

(Source: NREA Kuraymat presentation)

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6. Implementation and Operation of ISCC Plant

In a dusty environment as the location of Kuraymat which is of desert nature,

continuous cleaning for the reflecting mirrors is frequently needed. Special trucks for

washing the parabolic refelctors is used to clean up to 20 loops per day whenever needed

(Figure 8). Unclean reflectors may decrease the optical efficiency dramatically causing

cut offs of the output which may reach 25% typically.

Figure 8: Special mirror-washing truck in Kuraymat plant. (Source: NREA Kuraymat report)

In order to evaluate the output of the solar field and estimate its efficiency, a

meteo station for measuring the global and direct normal irrradiation would be essential.

This could also give results of the annual solar energy yield in the location which are far

more accurate than solar model estimations (Figure 9).

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Figure 9: Irradiation Measuring Pyranometers (Source: NREA Kuraymat presentation)

7. Recommendations and Future Projects

The Kuraymat power plant availability of the solar CSP island is considerably

low and thus the solar contribution is also low. This is due to the usage of traditional

thermo oil as a Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF). A certain recommendation for a newer

technology would be using a phase change material (ex. molten salts) which would

increase the total output of the power plant in the means of:

1. Providing storage for thermal energy so as to increase the availability of the solar

island during nights and cloudy days

2. Increasing the temperature of the solar island fluid (PCM) to higher temperatures

than the normal HTF can reach which will consequently increase the ISCC overall

efficiency.

Heading to the future of solar power in Egypt, the five year plan (2012-2017)

includes implementing 100 MW solar thermal power plant. The next CSP power plant in

Egypt was selected to be in KomOmbo and will be using the molten salt as a heat transfer

fluid with thermal storage. The consultant was selected in June 2011 in order to conduct

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the project feasibility study. The available finance to date is 440 Million dollar divided as

follows:

• 100 Million dollar from CTF (99 million dollar as a soft loan + 1 Million grant to

prepare the environmental study and technical support)

• 170 Million dollar from the World Bank.

• 170 Million dollar from African Development Bank.

• 50 Million Euro from European Investment Bank.

• 50 Million Euro from French Agency Development.

• 50 Million Euro from German Government.

The construction of this project was to be finished by the end of 2012 but many

delays can be easily predicted to derive from the instability in Egypt after the revolution.

Nevertheless, this 100 MW pure solar power plant is considered a corner stone in

disseminating renewable energy utilization in Egypt.