Browsing by Author "Parent, Pierre-Antoine"

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    Post subsidy conditions: evaluating the techno-economic performance of concentrating solar power in Spai
    (Elsevier, 2021-03-21) Parent, Pierre-Antoine; Mirzania, Pegah; Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye; King, Peter
    Spain is one of the front runners of the development of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) projects. In recent years, however, the CSP industry in Spain has faced significant financial challenges due to a dramatic withdrawal of the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) in 2013. The primary aim of this paper is to assess when, and under what conditions, CSP projects, in particular, Parabolic Trough Collectors can potentially reach grid parity in the absence of any subsidies. This paper also goes further to investigate whether and how Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) projects can be financially viable in the post-subsidy period, using the System Advisor Model as a simulation tool to conduct techno-economic analyses. The simulation results indicated that a 50MWe PTC project with TES of 4 hours and a PPA price of €0.20 per kWh is the most viable model for developing CSP projects in Spain under post-subsidy condition. This paper concludes that, under current retail electricity prices and post-subsidy conditions, PTC projects can reach grid parity and become viable without direct incentives. Even though direct policy support will not be required, the CSP industry in Spain is still far from becoming fully self-sustained.