Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 22 (2020) 100730

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Case Studies in Thermal Engineering

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Preliminary cost-effectiveness assessment of a Linear Fresnel

Concentrator: Case studies
Yousra Filali Baba, Mechanical and Structural Engineer, Energetic and Thermal
PhD *, Hamid Ajdad, Ahmed Al Mers, Abdelfattah Bouatem, Badr Bououlid Idrissi,
Soukaina El Alj
3 ER Team, Department of Energy, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers de Meknès, Moulay Ismail University, Morocco

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Produce superheated steam for industrials process has been presented as one of the main ad­
Linear Fresnel Concentrator vantageous applications of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants particularly Linear Fresnel
Fresnel Solar Boiler Concentrator (LFC). LFC belongs to this category and produces either steam or hot liquid by
DNI
concentrating sunlight and converting it to energy. This technology has shown great potential
Total payback period
CAPEX
with regard to its integration into several industrial processes including cooling, enhanced oil
recovery (EOR), agro-food processes, etc. Nevertheless, despite the growing interest of the sci­
entific and industrial community to this technology, the majority of studies have been focused on
the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) estimation and there is still lack of a clear technology
economic competitiveness demonstration at a relevant scale. Aiming to take one step forward in
the cost-effectiveness of LFC according to the Direct Normal Irradiation (DNI) level and the fossil
fuel price, this work assesses the economic competitiveness of solar boiler based on Fresnel
technology and devoted to producing heat for industrials requiring saturated or overheated steam
and operating at medium temperature i.e. up to 200 ◦ C: a research area that has rarely been
tackled so far. To achieve this purpose, the total payback period has been simulated for several
scenarios: industrials already working with a fossil fuel boiler and industrials looking for a new
steam production system, and eventually, without Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system and with
2 h of TES system. LFC total payback period has been subsequently compared, with boilers
already existing in the market e.g. Heavy Fuel Boilers, Diesel Boilers, etc. Results from the study
have shown that LFC could be an excellent alternative to boilers existing in the market and that
the payback period is conditioned by DNI level and varies between 2 and 9 years depending on
the chosen scenario and the climatic conditions.

1. Introduction

Fossil fuels such represent the primary energy sources in the world. However, it is anticipated that these sources of energy will
deplete within the next 40–50 years [1]. Moreover, environmental damages such as global warming, acid rain are caused by the
production of emissions from these sources. The decrease of the fossil energy resources and the reduction of the emissions of green­
house effect gas become major environmental issues [2]. Knowing that steam systems are a part of almost major industrial process, all

* Corresponding author. Tel.: (+212) 606 649 457.

E-mail addresses: filalibabayousra@gmail.com, yousra.filalibaba@umi.edu.ac.ma (Y. Filali Baba).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csite.2020.100730
Received 2 February 2019; Received in revised form 11 September 2019; Accepted 22 July 2020
Available online 8 August 2020
2214-157X/© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Y. Filali Baba et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 22 (2020) 100730

Nomenclature

Symbols
Afs Annual fuel saving
Ar Reflecting surface
Atot Total area
Bl,s Boiler lifecycle saving
Clr Land requirement cost
CO&M Cost for operation and maintenance
Csb Solar boiler cost
Cfuel Fuel cost
Gc Gross capacity
Gc,ann Annual gross capacity
i Inflation
Lr Land requirement
Nbh,f Number hour per day of fossil boiler
Nbh,s Number hour per day of Solar boiler
P Pressure
Qf Collected energy by the fluid
Qm Total incident energy on the mirror field
Qr Incident energy on the receiver
Sap Total reflective surface aperture of the solar field
Sf Solar field
Sf,l Solar field lifecycle
Sp Storage price
T Temperature
Tf,in Solar field inlet temperature of the fluid
Tf,out Solar field outlet temperature of the fluid
Tpb Total payback period
tpb Total payback period without O&M cost
TH Hot temperature of the HTF
TL Low temperature of the HTF
Tinitial Temperature at t = 0s
Tambient Temperature of the surrounding

Greek letters
ηb Solar boiler efficiency
ηoptical Solar boiler optical efficiency
ηthermal Solar boiler thermal efficiency
ηstorage Storage tank efficiency

Abbreviations
CAPEX Capital Expenditure
CSP Concentrating Solar Power
DNI Direct Normal Irradiation
EOR Enhanced Oil Recovery
HTF Heat Transfer Fluid
LCOE Levelized Cost of Electricity
LHV Lower Heating Value
LFC Linear Fresnel Concentrator
MC Monte Carlo
OPEX Operational Expenditure
O&M Operation and Maintenance
PTC Parabolic Trough Collector
PT Power Tower
SD Solar Dishes
STE Solar thermal electricity
TESM Thermal Energy Storage Material

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Y. Filali Baba et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 22 (2020) 100730

industrial are called to reduce their emissions and to produce, in a sustainable way, by utilizing a variety of renewable energy resources
which are less harmful to the environment such as solar energy, wind energy, etc. In this global situation, solar energy technologies
remain an excellent solution to deal with environmental challenges and restrictions. Furthermore, they offer several financial and
strategic advantages for producing steam used in industry.
Concentrated Solar Power plants are a relatively new technology, with significant development potential. These systems collect and
concentrate naturally available solar energy received using mirrors. They offer an opportunity to sunny countries comparable to that of
wind farms for coastal countries. The solar irradiance (Direct Normal solar irradiance, DNI) is exploited in such facilities as the primary
source of energy because of its directional nature [3]. The concentrated solar irradiation is thus used to generate electric power or
steam through its conversion to thermal energy. The most promising areas for the implementation of these technologies are those of the
southwestern United States, South America, much of Africa, the Mediterranean countries and the Middle East, the desert plains of India
and Pakistan, China, Australia, etc. [4]. The concentrated solar power plants are regrouped in four principal technologies and for each
technology; various options exist for the heat transfer fluid (HTF), TES technology and power cycle:

- Parabolic Trough Concentrator systems (PTC): These plants consist of parallel rows of long cylindrical parabolic mirrors that
rotate around a horizontal axis to follow the course of the sun. The sun’s rays are concentrated on a horizontal receiving tube in
which circulates a coolant whose temperature generally reaches 400 ◦ C. This fluid is then pumped through exchangers to produce
superheated steam that drives a turbine or an electric generator [5];
- Power Tower systems (PT): Tower solar power plants consist of numerous mirrors concentrating the sun’s rays towards a boiler
located at the top of a tower. The evenly distributed mirrors are called heliostats. Each heliostat is steerable, and follows the sun
individually and reflects it precisely in the direction of the receiver at the top of the solar tower. The hot fluid can be used
immediately or stored for later use [6];
- Solar Dishes systems (SD): The SD system consists of a parabolic dish shaped concentrator that reflects sunlight into a receiver
placed at the focal point of the dish. SD systems require two-axis sun tracking systems and offer very high concentration factors and
operating temperatures. However, they have yet to be deployed on any significant commercial scale [7];
- Linear Fresnel Concentrator (LFC): The linear Fresnel concentrator technology receives its name from the Fresnel lens [8], which
was developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses in the 18th century [8]. It uses flat or slightly curved
mirrors to concentrate sunlight and to reflect it to a linear receiver. Its applications address direct human needs such as water and
food, assistance of other energy energy-consuming industries such as Oil & Gas, petrochemicals and mining, and temperature
regulation needs [4].

LFC has worldwide successful applications, for instance: the Linear Fresnel Concentrator of Giovanni Francia Solarmundo [9],
Fresnel prototype in Liège/Belgium, etc. [10]. It is considered as the youngest CSP technology and aroused an increasing interest in the
last decade. This interest is mainly due to its cheapest cost relatively to the PTC technology. The considerable economic advantages of
Fresnel concentrator (LFC) are principally related to their constructive simplicity. Additionally, Fresnel solar fields permit higher land
use efficiency than any other type of solar fields [4]. If these advantages are sufficiently strong, then Fresnel power plants represent an
interesting alternative to PTC plants.
As a matter of fact, LFC has been characterized mostly from technical viewpoint. For instance, Kincaid et.al [11]presented a model
to better optical performance of a LFC and concluded that collector performance is insensitive to positions of the floating reflectors and
sensitive to horizontal displacement of the receiver tube. Whereas, Babu et al. [12] analyzed experimentally the LFC with varying with
reflectors. On the other hand, Bellos et al. [13] suggested, through his work, novel techniques to reduce the optical end losses of a LFC.
As a result, he deduced that: the use of an extended receiver enhances the yearly performance up to 50%, the use displaced receiver
enhances the yearly performance up to 20% while combining both methods enhances the yearly performance up to 48%.
So far, the economic aspects of CSP power plants have been subject to several research studies. They have demonstrated that, with a
declining fossil fuel field, the transition to renewable energies became a necessity. More importantly, they have shown that CSP plants
represent an opportunity and a cost-effective option to generate electricity. Among these studies, we mention Vallentin et al. [14] who
considered CSP technologies as an important technology option offering great economic opportunities. Besides, Morin et al. [15] who
established through his research work a comparison between LFC and PTC plants and concluded that the LFC cost ranges between 78
€/m2 and 216 €/m2 whereas the PTC cost is fixed at 275 €/m2. Equally important, Romero et al. [16] demonstrated that Solar Thermal
Electricity (STE) deployment in areas with high DNI contributes to the achievement of the cost competitiveness of these technologies
by reducing electricity costs up to 25%. Furthermore, they allow reaching competitive levels with conventional sources i.e. LCOE
reaches 0.16 $/KWh. Added to that, Gabbrielli et al. [17] who conducted a deep investigation upon Levelized cost of Heat (LCOH)
produced by small-scale solar LFC calculated LCOH of LFC and compared it to natural gas. They concluded that industrial process heat
from LFC can compete with natural gas even in the actual low gas price scenario and without any government subsidy with specific cost
under 150 €/m2 and DNI larger than 1900 kWh/m2 yr. Moreover, Askari et al. [18] found that the water production cost of the LF
system with 67.77% contribution of solar energy and without the thermal storage system is high (3.32$/m3) as compared to the
conventional fossil fuel-powered desalination plants with a water production cost of 1.26 $/m3. In addition, Daniele et al. [19]
conducted an energy and economic analysis of CSP based on PTC and LFC and concluded that CSP plants based on linear Fresnel
collectors are still not competitive with those based on parabolic trough owing to their higher energy production cost (about 380
€/MWh vs. 340 €/MWh). By the same token, Bendato et al. [20] developed a new methodology to combine technological solutions
(LFC integration) with investment profitability. Whereas, the study carried out by Moghimi et al. [21] introduced an economic opti­
mization procedure that can be applied to LFC plant.

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Fig. 1. Complete view of the Linear Fresnel system coupled with a storage system and an industrial process.

Fig. 2. Fresnel solar boiler prototype in Green Energy Park of Benguerir Morocco. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure
legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

As an obvious ascertainment, the majority of research studies, conducted until now, focused towards, either technical aspects of
LFC, or electricity generation and LCOE estimation and no detailed work have been carried out to determine the payback period for a
linear Fresnel solar boiler devoted to produce heat at medium temperature for industrial purpose and to examine its competitiveness.
In this regards, and based on different developed engineering tools e.g. OPSOL [22] for optical calculation, THERSOL [23] for thermal
behavior and thermocline code for tackling thermal storage goals [24], plus the already constructed Moroccan LFC prototype in Green
Energy Park in Benguerir-Morocco [25] within our research team, the present work focused on the technico-economic profitability of
an LFC plant i.e. the total payback period resulting from LFC plant investment. The preliminary technico-economic assessment is made,
first of all, by determining optical, thermal, thermal storage and global efficiencies and then calculating the capital expenditure, the
operation and maintenance cost of an LFC of 1000 kWth thermal power.
Two scenarios are deployed to achieve this objective; the first one assumes that the industrial is already producing steam, full time,
with conventional fossil boiler. Whereas, the second one, presumes that the industrial is looking for a new steam production system for
partial use. Thereby, this paper is organized in two parts: The first section confronted, in terms of CAPEX, annual fuel saving, total
payback period and boiler lifecycle saving, the LFC technology with the commonly heat production systems used by industrials
involving: heavy fuel boiler, diesel boiler, gas boiler and biomass boiler. Then, the second section of this paper investigated the impact
of climatic conditions on the payback period, by taking the heavy fuel boiler as a reference, and this for many countries such as
Morocco, Egypt, Italy, etc.

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2. Linear Fresnel system description

The Linear Fresnel Solar concentrator is among the applications that belong to the category of energy production system from
renewable resources as it aims to generate heat for direct use in a wide spectrum of industrial process. It provides an interesting
temperature margin, which allows it to be adaptable to many types of industrial applications, particularly those employing steam, hot
water or hot air in their process.
The Fresnel solar concentrator studied (Fig. 1) consists of the following components:

- The heliostats field: A field of flat or slightly curved mirrors fixed on metal supports. Each of these mirrors can continuously rotate
around its axis to concentrate sunlight in the receiver;
- The receiver: The receiver is a cylindrical absorber tube, covered with a selective surface. It is surrounded from its upper part by a
secondary reflector known as Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC) and covered from the other side with a transparent glass.
The secondary CPC reflector is comprised of two parabolic reflector segments, and permits to collect and concentrate efficiently
solar rays toward the receiver tube [26]. Whereas, the transparent glass cover allows minimizing the heat losses by convection and
radiation from the absorber tube to the surrounding.
- A hydraulic circuit for transporting the produced heat to the place of use;
- A storage system: the storage system considered here is a thermocline energy storage system. It consists of a packed-bed single tank
system. It allows storing energy and delivering it once needed.

A complete view of the solar system and the various components of the plant are shown in Fig. 1. The primary circuit use thermal oil
as heat transfer fluid. The solar installation comprises mainly a Fresnel concentration solar field, a heat storage tank, two variable
speed pumps, a safety cooler, an expansion tank and a heat exchanger to provide superheated steam to the industrial process. Since the
necessity to use a thermocline heat storage tank, the steam generation by the system is considered indirect and occurs through the heat
exchanger considered as a vapour generator connected to the industrial process.
Linear Fresnel concentrator denoted as “Solar Boiler” offers considerable economic advantages which will be analyzed in this study.
To demonstrate the possibility of Solar Boiler integration, we target the industry that operates with medium temperature up to 200 ◦ C
and requires steam (superheated or saturated). The integration of the Solar Boiler can be made within two scenarios that will be
discussed in this paper:

- Industrial customer already having a fossil energy boiler;

- Industrial customer looking for a new installation.

These case studies are investigated with: no storage system and 2 h storage system. Based on the construction of our first prototype
in Green Energy Park in Benguerir-Morocco the solar boiler cost range considered here varies between 100 €/m2 and 250 €/m2 [15]
and the assessment is made in term of the total payback period of course, the only constraint for the customer is the availability of the
necessary land required by the solar field. Furthermore, and based on the DNI level for different countries, a study was conducted to
emphasize the climatic conditions and the fossil fuel price effect on Total payback period.

3. Methodology

The payback period is considered as decisive criterion utilized for capital investment appraisal. Commonly used in pure profit
evaluation, it allows determining the length of time required to recover the capital investment hence measuring the attractiveness of
capital investments [27].
Through this study, we determine the total payback period of Fresnel solar boiler in order to compare economically this technology
with the boilers already existing in the market and then to underline the effect of the climatic conditions particularly the DNI.
Several parameters are involved while calculating the Fresnel solar boiler payback period. Among these parameters: the DNI, the
optical, thermal and storage efficiencies plus the CAPEX and the operations and maintenance costs. For this reason, in what follows, we
will present the optical, thermal and storage modeling used in this study in order to calculate the Fresnel Solar Boiler efficiencies, then
the governing equations to calculate the CAPEX and the total payback period.

3.1. Linear Fresnel system modeling

The purpose of this modeling is to calculate, from real solar and the ambient temperature data of the considered site, the solar
energy received by the HTF. The global model for this type of calculation consists of three elementary models: the first one simulates
the optical behavior of the solar field, the second simulates the thermal behavior of the receiver and the last one simulates the dynamic
behavior of the thermocline storage tank. Then, our simulation is based on the coupling of three computer codes developed and
validated previously: the optical code OPSOL [22], the thermal code THERSOL [26]and the THERMOCLINE storage code [24].
Subsequently, we describe briefly the basic principle of each used model. Further details concerning the development and the vali­
dation of these codes can be found in our previous works referenced in Refs. [22,24,26].

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3.2. Optical modeling

In this section, we describe briefly the approach used for the optical efficiency modeling of the Fresnel solar boiler. Indeed, the
optical behavior of a given LFC solar field is modeled by using ray tracing method [28]. The ray tracing method consists on tracking the
optical path of photons in the solar field. This approach is based on Monte Carlo (MC) method [29]. The general concepts of MC
method lie on selecting randomly a given number of rays to be traced from their point of emission (sun), then follow their path through
the system when encountering various optical interactions (mirrors, glass cover of the receiver, secondary reflector and the absorber
tube) until be absorbed by the receiver or lost outside the computational domain (the material domain of the LFC system) [30,31]. The
objective of the optical calculation is to determine the system optical efficiency and the heat flux received by the absorber tube. The
calculation is made by using the OPSOL code based on Monte-Carlo/Ray-tracing algorithm. This code was developed and validated in
the framework of CHAMS1 project [22,30].
The Optical efficiency is hence defined as the ratio of incident energy on the absorber tube “Qr ” and the total incident energy on the
aperture of the reflective surface of the mirrors field.
Qr
ηoptical = (1)
DNI*Sap

With:

Qr The incident energy on the absorber tube

DNI The direct normal irradiation
Sap The total reflective surface aperture of the solar field

3.3. Thermal modeling

The receiver remains the key thermal device of the LFC hence, the importance of the thermal modeling. It is composed, as
mentioned before; of a steel absorber cylindrical tube coated with a selective surface, a CPC (secondary reflector) to enhance the
concentration ratio and a glass pane to decrease the thermal losses.
The thermal model is based on the global heat balances applied for different component of the receiver (secondary reflector, glass,
absorber tube, heat transfer fluid, air cavity, etc.) taking into account the heat transfer by conduction, convection and radiation. The
different equations are integrated and solved in THERSOL code [26].
In the thermal model, the input parameters are: the total heat flux received by the absorber tube “Qr ” calculated by the optical
model OPSOL, the ambient temperature and the entrance temperature and the mass flow rate of the heat transfer fluid. Consequently,
the model calculates the output temperature of the working fluid and the system thermal efficiency defined as the ratio of the collected
energy by the heat transfer fluid designed by “Qf ” and the incident energy on the absorber tube designed by “Qr “.
Qf
ηthermal = (2)
Qr
It should be pointed that the optical efficiency is dependent on the geographical location and time, the reference value is around 0.6
[31] and the thermal efficiency is dependent on the ambient temperature where the reference value is around 0.7 [26]. Then, the
reference value of the global efficiency of the solar field studied here varies between 0.4 and 0.45 [26]. More details about the thermal
model development can be found in Ref. [26].

3.4. . Storage modeling

Presented as a key factor to improve the CSP efficiency and deal with the solar energy intermittency, the thermal energy storage
system offers a cheap and simple way correcting fluctuations of the Fresnel Solar Boiler plant energy produced, and then remains an
essential step for the cost estimation and the economic evaluation. The thermal energy storage system considered here is a thermocline
packed-bed single tank system [32].
The developed and validated model is based on a dual-phase model. It describes heat and mass transfer inside the porous packed-
bed contained in the storage tank as continuous mediums, formed by two distinct systems the heat transfer fluid (HTF) and thermal
energy storage medium (TESM). The thermocline storage tank uses DelcoTerm oil [33] and the quartzite respectively as HTF and TESM
[24].
The storage tank sizing involves several parameters such as thermal power, particle diameter, etc. To simulate the thermal behavior
during charging and discharging processes and subsequently evaluate the system performances such as discharge efficiency and
storage efficiency “ηstorage “, the code is composed mainly of two loops: charging loop and discharging one [24]. The input parameters
are the entrance temperature and the flow rate of the HTF. The output parameters are the output HTF temperature, the stored energy
during the charging period and the discharged energy during the discharging period. Hence, the storage efficiency, defined as the ratio
of the amount of energy delivered by the heat transfer fluid during discharge and the stored energy during charge, is calculated based
on the following equation:

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Fig. 3. Evolution of different input and output thermal power in the solar plant during a day (Gross capacity = 1MW, autonomy of the storage tank =
4hours).

Fig. 4. Variation of the output HTF temperatures and mass flow rate in the solar plant during a day (Gross capacity = 1MW, autonomy of the storage
tank = 4hours).

Edischarge
ηstorage = (3)
Echarge

Edischarge and Echarge represent, respectively, the discharged energy during the discharging process and the energy stored during the
charging process. More details about the thermocline energy storage modeling can be found in Ref. [24].

3.5. Principle of heat transfer mass flow rate regulation

In this study, the HTF used is DELCOTerm thermal oil [33]. The solar power received by the absorber tube from the mirror field
depends on the solar energy incident during the day (DNI), and then it depends on time. Therefore, the principle of regulation of the
exit energy of the plant as a function of time is based on the satisfaction of the energy demand of the industrial process. In this sense,
two parameters must be satisfied as long as possible during the day: the thermal power received by the industrial process and the
temperature level reached by the HTF at the exit of the solar field.
Consequently, the principle of regulation is based on the calculation of the heat transfer fluid mass flow rate ensuring a fluid outlet
temperature close to the set temperature (200◦ C) as long as possible. It is noted that this type of regulation is much more deficient to
achieve in a real field. However, from a numerical point of view, this calculation can be done in a very simple way. It is based on the
calculation of the mass flow rate of the working fluid according to the outlet temperature of the HTF and the energy needed. When the
energy produced by the solar field exceeds the energy required, a residual flow rate of the fluid is calculated and then used for the
thermocline storage system. Once the energy produced becomes deficient, the mass flow rate of the working fluid necessary to circulate

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Fig. 5. Global view of the payback period calculation process.

in the storage system is calculated. This makes it possible to compensate for the deficit in energy and to feed the industrial process in a
constant way as long as possible.
For instance, Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate the coupling results obtained through the three simulation codes. The different thermal powers
obtained during a day are illustrated in Fig. 3 and the variation of the corresponding temperatures and fluid flows rate are shown in

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Y. Filali Baba et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 22 (2020) 100730

Fig. 4.

3.6. Economic analysis

Since it represents the criterion to evaluate the solar boiler competitiveness, the total payback period is considered as the crucial
task in this study. It is defined as the ratio of the project cost and the annual cash inflows. Project cost includes capital expenditure
“CAPEX” and operation and maintenance cost “CO&M “, whereas the annual cash inflows takes into account the annual fuel saving “Afs ”
and fuel cost “Cfuel ” [34].
The net fuel saved in year n tack into account the fuel cost inflation rate i [35]and operation and maintenance cost CO&M . By
Summing over the payback time Tpb and equating to the initial investment we obtain:
Tpb
∑ ( )
Afs Cfuel (1 + i)n− 1 − CO&M = CAPEX (4)
n=1

Where Cfuel is the kWh cost of the fuel used in the boiler (in €/kWh). Summing the geometric series and solving for the payback timeTpb ,
we obtain:
( )
T .C + i . (CAPEX )
ln pb O&MAfs Cfuel +1
Tpb = (5)
ln(1 + i)
If the fuel costs are discounted with a discount rate d [36], we obtain by similar procedure:
( )
T . CO&M + (CAPEX )(i− d)
ln pb Afs Cfuel
+ 1
Tpb = ( ) (6)
1+i
ln 1+d

Important to note that:

- The “CAPEX” is composed mainly from the solar boiler cost and the storage tank cost;
- The operations and maintenance costs “CO&M “are fixed. They represent 3% of the “CAPEX“;
- The economic analysis takes into consideration the fuel cost”Cfuel ” fluctuations.

On the basis of these assumptions we assume that the better investment is the one with the shorter payback period, what drives us to
minimize, as possible, the project cost. The flowchart (Fig. 5) presents a brief view of the payback calculation algorithm.

4. Case studies

Motived by the early development stage of the prototype designed in CHAMS 1 project illustrated in (Fig. 2), solar boiler
competitiveness is assessed by including two scenarios:
Scenario A: considering an industrial customer already having a fossil fuel boiler operating full time 24 h/24 h. Three boilers
category are considered:

- Case A.1: heavy fuel boiler;

- Case A.2: diesel boiler;
- Case A.3: gas boiler.

Scenario B: we supposed that a manufacturer intend acquiring a new steam production for partial use, among the most effective
solutions, a Biomass boiler. Based on this, we will compare Biomass boiler with the Fresnel Solar one.
The second study focuses the effect of DNI level on the total payback period.

4.1. Parameters of comparison

In what follows, we will present an overview of the technical and economic parameters used during the assessment. As far as
climatic conditions effect concerned, the DNI data related to the target country will lead to different payback period. Concerning the
solar boiler integration, for scenario A, the chosen country is Morocco particularly Meknes as reference area (33◦ 53’36′′ North,
5◦ 32′ 50′′ West, 531 m Latitude). Besides, two operation periods are investigated:

- Fresnel Solar Boiler will replace the boiler 8 h per day without storage system;
- Fresnel Solar Boiler will replace the boiler 10 h per day including 2 h storage system.

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Table 1
Simulation parameters used in different scenarios [1,35,37,38].
Parameters Fresnel Solar Boiler Heavy fuel boiler Diesel boiler Gas boiler Biomass Boiler

DNI (kWh/m2/year) 2372 – – – –

Thermal power (kWth) 1000 1000 1000 1000 500
Efficiency (%) – 88 88 88 75
LHV (kWh/T) – 11160 12444 13986 5 233.5
Cfuel (€/T) – 318 798 1 000 66
CO&M (% CAPEX) 3 3 3 3 5

Table 2
Technical economic comparison between a solar Fresnel concentrator and heavy fuel boiler.
Data No storage 2 h storage Units

Generation capacity of the LFR project

Gross capacity 1000 1000 kWth
Number of hours per day 8 10 Hour
Annual Gross capacity 2920 3650 MWh/year
Yearly DNI 2372.5 2372.5 kWh/m2/year
Land requirement and orientation
Reflecting surface 2862 3675 m2
Total area 3721 4778 m2
Solar field orientation North-South
Project lifecycle
Solar field lifecycle 20 20 year
Steam
Pressure 175 ◦
C
Temperature 9 bars
Economic analysis
CAPEX Turnkey solar boiler cost 372093 591438 €
O&M cost 11163 17743 €/year
Annual fuel saving 297 446.0 T
Payback period without O&M cost 3.9 4.2 year
Total payback period 4.4 4.7 year
Boiler lifecycle saving 4.1 6.1 month/year

Table 3
Technical economic comparison between a solar Fresnel concentrator and diesel boiler.
Economic analysis

Data Without storage With 2 h storage Units

CAPEX Turnkey solar boiler cost 372093 591438 €

O&M cost 11163 17743 €/year
Annual fuel saving 267 400,0 T
Payback period without O&M cost 1.8 1.9 year
Total payback period 1.8 2.0 year
Boiler lifecycle saving 4.1 6.1 month/year

The different simulations parameters used for both scenarios are summarized in Table 1.
Important to note that the value used for the fuel price, in this study, corresponds to an average values calculated between 2016 and
2019. Moreover, the boilers efficiencies are also average values provided by the technical catalogs of the aforementioned reference
according to the required thermal power (1 000 kWth).

5. Results and discussion

5.1. Case studies

5.1.1. Case A.1: heavy fuel boiler

In Morocco, heavy fuel supplies a quarter of the country’s needs. It is considered as the cheapest fuel used in the industry. In the last
three years, its price, in the Moroccan market, is about 318€/T. As far as DNI concerned, the annual DNI is about 2372 kWh/m2/year
(According to Meteonorm database for Meknes region [39]). For the Solar boiler, the reference cost is fixed to 100 €/m2, the simulation
results are summarized in Table 2. By referencing to the heavy fuel, these results show clearly that the implementation of Fresnel Solar
Boiler allows a return on investment in about 4–9 years (see Table 3).

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Y. Filali Baba et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 22 (2020) 100730

Fig. 6. Payback period versus Solar Boiler cost (referenced to the heavy fuel boiler).

Fig. 7. Payback period versus Solar Boiler cost (referenced to the diesel boiler).

Note that the payback is affected if the storage system is considered. The corresponding CAPEX increase significantly and in the
opposite, the Boiler lifecycle saving is ameliorated (80%). This expansion in the CAPEX is not related to the tank storage price, but it is
influenced by the increase of the corresponding solar field surface. This shows that the use of storage system to increase the autonomy
of the solar field may be wasteful.

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Y. Filali Baba et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 22 (2020) 100730

Table 4
Technical economic comparison between a solar Fresnel concentrator and gas boiler.
Economic analysis

Data Without storage With 2 h storage Units

CAPEX Turnkey solar boiler cost 372093 591438 €

O&M cost 11163 17743 €/year
Annual fuel saving 237 355.9 T
Payback period without O&M cost 1.6 1.7 year
Total payback period 1.6 1.7 year
Boiler lifecycle saving 4.1 6.1 month/year

Table 5
Technical economic comparison between a solar Fresnel concentrator and biomass boiler.
Technical Economic analysis

Data Biomass Boiler Solar Boiler with 2 h storage Units

Gross capacity 1825 1825 MWh/year

Reflecting surface – 1829 m2
Total area – 2377 m2
CAPEX 285000 412145 €
CO&M 14250 12364 €/year
Cfuel 30686 0 €/year
Total expenditure (1st year) 329936 424509 €/year
Total expenditure (2nd year) 374872 436873 €/year
Total expenditure (3rd year) 419808 449237 €/year
Total expenditure (4thyear) 464744 461601 €/year
Total expenditure (5thyear) 509680 473965 €/year

Therefore, the storage can be used efficiently only to compensate the temporary fluctuations in DNI during the day, in this case the
storage tank will increase the CAPEX is about 60% higher than without storage. Besides, we observe that the increase of Solar Boiler
cost conducts to significant increase of the Total payback period (Fig. 6) which lead to conclude that for a customer already producing
steam with a heavy fuel boiler, Solar boiler cost value must not exceed 100 €/m2. The solar boiler becomes very cost-effective if the
CAPEX is maintained lower than 150 €/m2 (see Figs. 7 and 8).

5.1.2. Case A.2: diesel boiler

Actually, diesel boilers are presented as being a cost-efficient heating option for many industrials because they are very efficient
and have relatively low running costs. Indeed its high LHV which can be profitable for steam production. However, diesel cost, in
Morocco, is considerable and reaches 797.27€/T. For The simulation, the Solar boiler cost is fixed at 100€/m2. The different results are
shown in the following table.
Unlike the previous case, the cost of the gasoil influences slightly the payback period. The increase of payback period according to
the solar boiler cost is less significant. These results show also, that the investment on solar field, for a customer producing heat with a
diesel boiler is profitable with a return on investment around 2 years without storage system and 3 years including a storage system.

5.1.3. Case A.3: gas boiler

The gas boiler considered here is the propane one. For all industrials, the unavoidable question is the fuel price. In general, propane
price fluctuate unpredictably which can be considered a real concern for a boilers working full time. In what follows the results
reached, for the Solar boiler, the cost is fixed at 100 €/m2 (Table 4).
The return on investment is around 2 years without storage system and 3 years including a storage system. These results show,
obviously, that the implementation of solar field either with or without storage system is very cost-effective.

5.1.4. Case B: biomass boiler

Biomass is the name given to any organic matter which is derived from plants. Several biomass fuels can be used such as wood from
forests, crops, seaweed, material left over from agricultural and forestry processes, etc. The target Biomass Boiler, considered here use
pomace olive, usually available in the area producing olive oil like Meknes region in Morocco. The comparison results are summarized
in Table 5. Results lead to conclude that the Fresnel Solar boiler with 2 h storage system becomes beneficial than Biomass Boiler after
only 4 years (cumulative expenditure in Table 5) which accentuates the competitiveness of this technology.
It should be noted that the solar boiler CAPEX with 2 h storage value differs from the previous values; this can be explained by the
fact that the annual gross capacity in this case is 1825 MWh/year. (Available biomass boiler invoice in the market).

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Y. Filali Baba et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 22 (2020) 100730

Table 6
DNI and Heavy fuel price data related to several areas.
Area DNI (kWh/m2/year) Heavy Fuel Price (€/T)

Meknes (Morocco) 2372 318

Aswan (Egypt) 2571 743
Malaga (Spain) 1962 1358
Palermo (Italy) 1938 1788
Bamako (Mali) 1976 1030

Fig. 8. Payback period versus Solar Boiler cost (referenced to the gas boiler).

5.2. Effect of climatic conditions on total payback period

Actually, climatic conditions such as DNI level, temperature and dust represent challenges for any CSP implementation since they
affect directly the solar field efficiency and then the CAPEX. The DNI level represents the most important factor. It affects directly the
total payback period “Tpb “. The purpose of this section is to highlight the DNI level effect on total payback period. To achieve this goal,
a study was conducted for different countries in the Mediterranean areas. Based on data given by Meteonorm (Table 6), total payback
period was calculated for Egypt, Spain, Italy and Mali. The simulation results are illustrated in Fig. 9.
If we take the case of a heavy fuel boiler as reference, we can see easily that the payback period is significantly linked both to the
insolation (DNI) and the heavy fuel price. The results illustrate, obviously, that the DNI impacts directly total payback period; the
decrease of the DNI leads to an increase of the CAPEX, as a consequence the total payback increases. This can be explained by the fact
that more the DNI is high, less reflecting surfaces are needed. Then we can conclude, that DNI level represents important criteria for
any Solar boiler investment. Furthermore, the payback period is also conditioned by the heavy fuel price. The increase of this later
conducts to a major decrease of payback period.
The areas with a high DNI represent excellent candidates for solar investment, especially, solar boiler based on Fresnel technology.
Nonetheless, as revealed earlier, the price of fuel used represents an essential key factor of investment from an economic point of view
and must be taken into account.

6. Conclusion

Concentrated Solar Power technology is classically used for electricity purpose i.e. it is used for producing electricity by generating
thermal energy and converting it to electricity. However, the produced energy can be used directly in industrial processes requiring
medium temperature levels. Among the CSP technologies, Linear Fresnel Reflector (LFR) represents a very interesting technology in
industrial processes using heat at medium temperature. Hence from the conducted study, the following conclusions can be extracted:

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Y. Filali Baba et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 22 (2020) 100730

Fig. 9. Variation of total payback period according to DNI level (case of Morocco, Egypt, Mali, Spain, Italy, respectively).

• Energy from Solar Boiler based on Fresnel technology could be obviously an excellent alternative energy source since its
competitiveness is pinpointed in this paper.
• In spite of climatic conditions effect, implementation of Fresnel Solar Boiler for countries with high DNI allows making a reasonable
return of investment around 25% of total lifecycle of the solar field.
• Moreover, it offers convincing advantages either for industrials producing steam with a fossil fuel or industrials looking for a new
installation. The Solar boiler payback varies between 4-5 years for an industrial producing with a heavy fuel boiler, whereas the
payback is around 3 years for industrial producing steam with Diesel or Gas boiler. These results represent a success factor of Solar
Boiler investment.
• The Solar Boiler allows both of them reducing radically energy bill and then the dependence on fossil fuel price fluctuations. For
instance, to produce 1000 kWth the annual fuel saving for an industrial producing steam with a heavy fuel boiler reaches 394 T,
313 T for Diesel boiler and 278 T for Gas boiler.
• It allows, also, significant diminution of operating and maintenance cost i.e. For a 1825 MWh/year gross capacity, the O&M cost for
a Solar boiler is 12364 €/year unlike the Biomass boiler which required 14250 €/year for operation and maintenance, besides and
after the payback period, the energy bill concern only O&M cost.
• Likewise, it permits to increase the lifecycle of already installed boiler and decrease the CO2 emission which can be significant
versus the worldwide strategies of using renewable energy and the emission limits legislated.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgment

This work has been carried out thanks to the support of IRESEN (Research Institute in Solar Energy and New Energies - Morocco) and
KIC InnoEnergy (Community of Knowledge and Innovation- Europe) in the framework of SIROCCO project.

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