Abstract

This paper investigates - technically and economically - the possibility of implementing the concentrated solar power (CSP) technology in the Palestinian Territories (PT) to fulfill their escalating electricity demand. For this purpose, five PT sites, namely Jericho, Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah, and Gaza Strip, are selected to investigate their suitability for installing a 1 MW CSP plant with parabolic trough collectors. The obtained results show that all of the investigated sites – except for Gaza Strip - are appropriate candidates for implementing the proposed CSP plant. With a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) reaching 0.164 US$/kWh (without storage) and 0.153 US$/kWh (with 3 hours of storage) in addition to a simple payback period (SPP) - of applying the CSP plant – reaching 7.5 years (without storage) and 7.6 years (with 3 hours of storage), Ramallah proves to be the most suitable site for installing the proposed plant, followed by Hebron, Nablus and Jericho. On the contrary, Gaza Strip - with LCOE of 0.496 US$/kWh (without storage) and 0.468 US$/kWh (with 3 hours of storage) besides a SPP of 20 years (without storage) and 27 years (with 3 hours of storage) – demonstrate its infeasibility for employing the proposed CSP plant. These facts are also supported by the results of the following investigated meters: the net present value, the annual life cycle savings, and the benefit-cost ratio. The results of the sensitivity analysis disclose that the solar farm’s cost and produced electricity tariff are the prevailing factors in defining the feasibility of applying the CSP technology in PT.

Key words: The Palestinian Territories; Concentrated solar power; Parabolic trough collectors, Electricity generation; Techno-economic analysis; Sensitivity analysis.