Investigating the Influence of Incorporation of Solar Aided Power Generation Technology on a Steam Power Plant in Nigeria

Abstract

One of the ways of meeting the growing energy demand in a developing country like Nigeria is to have a suitable and sustainable means of power generation. Steam power plants have a huge potential to meet these needs but its viability has been hampered by its dependence on conventional fossil fuels. This paper is aimed at evaluation the effect of integrating a solar aided power generation technology (SAPG) into steam power plant. In this study, computer program codes were developed in Microsoft Excel macros for simulation and evaluation of the plant’s energy, exergy, environmental and economic analysis of the various models. The performance of four replacement models (Model 1; Model 2; Model 3 and Model 4) was compared with the base case (control) using energy, exergy, environmental and economic parameters. The result showed that Model 2 was the best integration option with a 6% increase in both energy and exergy efficiency; around 14% reduction CO₂ emission with a payback period of 0.77 years. Based on the results of this study, steam powered plants can meet up with the escalating energy demand in a cleaner way if the option of SAPG is considered.