Design Aspects of Solar Thermal Power Generation in an Educational Institute

This paper presents the estimation for the power generation of an educational institute using parabolic trough collector. Solar parabolic trough collector increases the fluid temperature to generate the steam which is used by steam turbine for power generation. Load forecasting, solar radiation estimation, number & sizing of parabolic trough collector and steam turbine rating were the sub-tasks of this paper. After completion of work it was found that the campus needs 500 KW power generations for which 682 parabolic trough collectors are required. The initial capital cost investment of Rs.1, 95, 40, 000. The per unit generation cost of power is Rs.8/kWh, which is on higher side when compare with conventional power but less than power generator using solar photovoltaic cell.