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Renewable energy has experienced a significant growth on its rate of deployment as a clean and competitive alternative for conventional power sources. The reduction on the installation costs for PV systems has converted this technology into a relevant player regarding the electricity matrix. However, a larger penetration of PV systems is restricted to the availability of affordable technological options for storage. The integration of thermal energy storage to CSP systems is, on the other hand, straightforward through technologies already available in the market. Hence, the hybridization of CSP and PV systems has the potential for reducing operational and installation costs, as well as increasing significantly the capacity factor of solar power plants. The present study describes a methodology for design and sizing such hybrid plants, by implementing a transient simulation model, coupled to an evolutionary optimization algorithm, allowing to address the trade off between costs and capacity factor. The simulation model is applied to a case study considering the characteristics of a location in northern Chile. The results are presented in terms of the Pareto Frontiers that summarizes the compromise between the economic performance and the capacity factor of the plant. It is observed that the capacity factor achieves values higher that 85%, and the LCOE is lower than those observed for stand alone CSP plants. The methodology developed constitutes a useful tool for decision makers, who can assess the performance of the hybrid plant based in a detailed transient simulation and selecting the best configuration according to market constraints or its willingness for achieving certain level of capacity factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Desert areas are the favorable geographical locations for desired solar resource and temperature variations for improving the performance of hybrid photovoltaic-thermoelectric generator (HPV-TEG) systems. Therefore, economic feasibility analysis of HPV-TEG system is carried out under real environment and market conditions for the Atacama Desert, Chile. The thermal, electrical and economic models of HPV-TEG system are developed and analyzed in MATLAB. Five different possible scenarios are considered for economic feasibility based on energy losses, system costs, nominal efficiencies of TEG and photovoltaic module and their contribution in the economic feasibility of HPV-TEG system is identified and payback period for all scenarios is determined at minimum and maximum PV temperatures for Atacama Desert including residential and industrial electricity prices. The results showed that with existing market costs and TEG efficiency, HPV-TEG system could not be economically competitive with photovoltaic system for environmental conditions of the Atacama Desert. However, the calculated levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of the HPV-TEG system is 0.071 USD/kWh which is relatively close to current LCOEs for PV systems in Chilean energy market. Further, LCOE analysis economically quantifies the advantages of HPV-TEG system over PV system and opens the possibility for HPV-TEG systems to be competitive in desert locations. • Economic feasibility analysis of HPV-TEG system for Atacama Desert, Chile. • Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of HPV-TEG is compared with that of PV systems. • TEG system cost reduction has more impact on reducing the HPV-TEG LCOE. • Role of PV & TEG efficiencies, costs & losses in economic feasibility of HPV-TEG. • Understanding of economic analysis of HPV-TEG system under real environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a comprehensive analysis evaluating the impact of the dispatch strategy on the optimal design configurations of different combinations of solar power plants with storage. The analysis considers four dispatch profiles (baseload, daylight, night, and daylight and evening), and four technology combinations including a solar PV plant with batteries, a CSP plant with Thermal Storage (TES), a hybrid CSP-PV plant with TES, and a hybrid CSP-PV plant with TES and batteries. Two locations with high and moderate levels of DNI were selected and cost scenarios for 2020 and 2030 were considered. The aim is to determine the competitiveness ranges of each technology combination and establishing the least-cost technological option that allows meeting a dispatch strategy with a certain level of supply guarantee. A multi-objective optimization approach was followed to obtain the trade-off curves that minimize the LCOE and maximize the sufficiency factor in terms of the nominal size of the PV plant, solar multiple, TES size, batteries capacity, and inverter power rate. Results of this work allow determining the influence of the dispatch strategy on the competitiveness of these storage-integrated technology options, giving relevant information concerning under which conditions one technology combination is preferable over another. • The lowest LCOEs were obtained in baseload and the highest for the night dispatch. • When covering daylight and evening dispatch, the PV-BESS plant is more competitive. • The hybrid CSP-PV-TES-BESS is the most competitive option for >12 h storage. • Future 2030 cost projections have a greater impact on the LCOE reduction of the PV-BESS plant. • With DNI∼2000 kWh/m2/yr, the PV-BESS plant is the most competitive technology for all the cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the paper is to generate an energy and environmental model using LEAP to forecast energy demand, supply, emissions for Chile by 2030 and create scenarios considering different policies motivated by current policy as well as national and international commitments from Chile. This paper contributes to literature by developing a long-term energy plan including all sectors for Chile, describing energy scenario alternatives and analyzing current policy, nationally determined contributions and sustainable development goals. Results indicate that scenarios with significant energy demand reduction for all sectors showed considerable emission reduction by 2030. In all scenarios, demand sector showed major contribution to emissions when compared to transformation sector. Although emissions from transformation sector demonstrate significant reduction by 2030, decrease in demand side is not clearly noticed for some scenarios. Chile requires appropriate energy efficiency and renewable energy policies for demand sides of sectors especially transport, mining and other industries to reduce emissions at demand-side as having decarbonization for transformation side. Scenarios including more wind, PVsolar, CSPsolar and hydropower plants reached more than 80% renewable electricity generation by 2030. Thus, cleaner production portfolio which results in fewer emissions and more diversification in terms of energy generation can be established in Chile. • Scenarios with energy demand reduction showed considerable emission reduction by 2030. • In all scenarios, demand sector showed major contribution to emissions. • Emissions from transformation sector demonstrate significant reduction by 2030. • Chile requires appropriate energy efficiency, renewable energy policies for demand side. • 80% renewable electricity generation is reached including more renewables by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]