Levelized Cost of Solar Thermal System for Process Heating Applications in the Tropics

Abstract

In ASEAN region, buildings and industry sectors account for about 24% and 28% of total energy (415 Mtoe) consumption, respectively. A significant share of the building and the industrial energy consumption is for process heating applications, i.e., hot water for manufacturing and services, in the temperature range of 60–150 °C. Thus, an effective utilization of solar thermal energy for process heating applications could contribute to a reduction of fossil energy consumption in the regions where solar energy is available all year-round. For industrial heating applications, thermal efficiency of solar collectors is typically ranging between 60% and 75% depending on collector type and fluid temperature inside the collector. The levelized cost of thermal energy (LCOE_th) for industrial heating from solar thermal systems is determined being in the range of 5–9 USD cents per KWh_th with strong sensitivity toward collector price, collector efficiency, and financial parameters such as financial leverage, discount rate, and taxes in each country.