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This study explores the economic implications of hybrid plants combining photovoltaic (PV) and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technologies with energy storage in response to Chile's ongoing energy transition. Utilizing the System Advisor Model (SAM), six diverse locations were evaluated to assess energy generation profiles, calculate the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), and analyze gross margins. The key finding is that higher solar multiples or storage capacities do not consistently lead to lower LCOE, primarily due to operational strategies aligning CSP generation profiles with PV. Notably, northern regions consistently yield higher gross margins despite occasional zero marginal costs, while areas near Santiago experience lower gross margins, with Salamanca presenting the lowest margin. This highlights the critical role of available solar resources in shaping economic outcomes.

The study evaluated the use of mining seawater pipelines in a CSP+MED plant at commercial scale based on solar tower molten salts technology, with 111.2 MWe and 13 hours of thermal energy storage in northern Chile. The plant is coupled to the biggest seawater pipeline in the country, from Centinela mining facility. Results shown that the CSP+MED plant required all the seawater pumping capacity of the pipeline in order to cool the thermal cycle of the CSP plant using the MED plant. In terms of electricity production, the MED plant integration affects significantly the annual electricity production of the plant, when compared with an optimized CSP plant and to a CSP plant with the same design but without the MED plant and considering a once through cooling system, lowering the electricity production an 46.05% and 25.82% respectively. On the other hand, the CSP+MED plant integration produces 14.06 hm3 of freshwater annually, which translated in an additional income equivalent to 28.14 MM USD each year, which is substracted from the OPEX costs of the plant for the LCoE calculations. For this reason, the results showed that the lowest LCoE is reached by the CSP+MED plant configuration, but is highlighted that the economic analysis assumed an ideal situation, and further business models must be studied in order to share the benefits of the seawater pipeline integration between the CSP+MED plant owner and the mining facility that owns the seawater pipeline.

Molten salts are the most widely used thermal energy storage system in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants, accounting for 50% of the installed capacity. Many studies have conducted life cycle assessments of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions produced within the CSP ecosystem; however, it has not yet been standardized for molten salt storage. This study compares GHG emissions of molten salt storage in CSP with conventional coal and natural gas power plants, to measure the environmental impact they can have in the CSP ecosystem. This was achieved with the use of simulations for 48 operational CSP plants worldwide using the system advisor model with their respective operation conditions. Results show that for the three configurations studied, CSP plants would result in annual 3,99 MMtCO2eq of emissions displaced when compared to a coal power plant and 1,61 MMtCO2eq compared to a natural gas power plant.