SAM-Based Performance Modeling of a 50 MWe Solar Thermal Power Plant

India’s tropical geographical location offers immense potential for solar energy utilization. With rapid growth in population and GDP, the country’s energy demand is increasing continuously, while excessive reliance on fossil fuels is accelerating greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. In this context, adopting solar energy has become a national necessity rather than a choice. This book presents the performance estimation and modeling of a 50 MWe Concentrated Parabolic Trough Solar Thermal Power Plant using the System Advisor Model (SAM) software. Emphasis is placed on virtual techno-economic analysis to optimize plant design while saving time and cost. SAM integrates key inputs such as site-specific meteorological data, solar field configuration, collectors, receivers, power cycle, thermal storage, system costs, and financial parameters to simulate plant performance. The simulated results are validated against actual plant data. The model predicts an annual electricity generation of 97.24 million kWh compared to 97.42 million kWh from the actual plant under identical conditions, showing a close agreement with only 0.18% deviation.