Browsing by Author "Osman, Majeed Koranteng"

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    Feasibility Study of a Hybrid Solar/Bio-Oil Thermal Power Generation Plant in Northern Ghana
    (2012-12-02) Osman, Majeed Koranteng
    Solar energy plants benefit from the use of a freely available source of energy but suffer from the intermittency of the day/night cycles and also from periods of reduced irradiation. Bio-oil power plants are comparatively less expensive to build but have to confront the higher cost associated with the continuous supply of large amounts of a seasonal and relatively expensive bio-oil for fuel. Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) with supplementary bio-oil combustion evidences the possible integration of these two technologies in the generation of electricity. This thesis provides a preliminary technical and economic analysis of a 20MW stand-alone Power Tower at Wa, a location with daily average DNI of 4.288 kWh/m2/day. The analysis, using RETScreen software version 4 established a capacity factor of 17.87% for Wa, with a negative NPV at a bulk supply tariff of US$ 0.08 /kWh. Three technical concepts for hybrid solar/bio-oil combustion power plants are developed and the concept of integrating flat plate collectors into a bio-oil combustion steam power plant selected because of the relatively low DNI simulated for the selected site. At the current PURC Bulk Generation Charge of US$ 0.086 /kWh, and Jatropha oil prices of US$ 950 /Mt, a 20 MW hybrid solar/bio-oil thermal power plant at a capital cost of US$ 1,748 /kW would yield a negative NPV. The financial viability of the plant is confirmed at a tariff of US$ 0.34 /kWh, at the prevailing Jatropha oil prices. A 40% drop in the Jatropha oil prices will however yield a positive NPV and a payback period of 3.2 years at tariffs of US$ 0.26 /kWh. This study concludes that a combination of low bio-oil prices and relatively low feed-in-tariffs is the way to improve the financial viability of bio-oil combustion power plants in Ghana.