Comparative Techno-Economic Study of Solar Thermal Power Plants with Various Capacities: A Case for the Northern Part of Cameroon
Authors: ALAİN CHRİSTİAN Biboum , YILANCI Ahmet 
Published: April 2020

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the commercial use of
different solar thermal power technologies in the northern part of Cameroon.
For this, a techno-economic study highlighting the design of each technology
using various capacities of the studied plant. The main objective was to carry
out, technical, economic and financial parameters able to attract investors for
the use of such kinds of technology to generate electricity in these provinces [G1] having a good direct normal irradiation estimated at 2145kWh/m2/year
and meet at the energy demand of population living with less than 10%
electrification rate in rural area. During this study, we considered some
technical paramet[G2] ers as total annual DNI received by solar field, Field thermal output,
thermal system transfer rated, overall energy efficiency and yearly electricity
production. The last parameter was a key parameter for techno-economic analysis
of the studied system.[G3] Some parameters as the payback period (PBP), internal rated return
(IRR), net present value (NPV) and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) have
been found out during the economic analysis. The bonus carbon can be allowed to
a company because of the good electricity generation has been applied during
the calculation of these parameters. Other parameters as the initial investment
and incentives from the government or financial named in this study have been
considered also. The [G4] environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) related to this
purpose give a priority to criteria as grid, land and water access and use for
electricity generating. Then, the ESIA study has been considered as a key
parameter for Multi-Criteria Decision Maker. The studied systems had various range capacity starting from 5 MW to 100 MW and their analysis in the sub-Saharan region[G5] shown that, the cost of installed kW for concentrating solar
technologies (CST) varies between 4550 – 6745 US Dollar ,
5240 – 9365 US Dollar and 5100 -
6290 US Dollar and the levelized cost
of electricity per kWh varies between 10.22-13.22 USD cents, 11.07-19.81 USD cents
and 14.63-15.6 USD cents for Parabolic trough collector(PTC), Solar Tower (ST)
and Linear Fresnel (LF) respectively. The solar tower technology can't be
efficient compared to other techniques for the thermal power plant (TPP) under
10 MW[G6] [G7] [G8] e due to the initial investment. It important to add this, the cost of
installed kW in the sub-Saharan region is higher[G9] than order region because of transportation fees, the lake of solar
thermal manufactures for insulation and piping system, metal structure and
expertise related to total indirect cost such as engineering procurement
construction and advanced ESIA services in this area. The support of financial institution through
CER/TAX and a similar approach in addition to existing subvention[G10] [G11] s for such technology can
decrease considerably both payback period and feed-in-tariff (FİT) price of the
studied system and contribute to developing the sector [G12] by creating an attractive
market for investors.