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Review

Performance Evaluation of Solar Power Plants: A Review and a Case Study

by
Mahmoud Makkiabadi
1,*,
Siamak Hoseinzadeh
2,
Ali Taghavirashidizadeh
3,
Mohsen Soleimaninezhad
4,
Mohammadmahdi Kamyabi
5,
Hassan Hajabdollahi
1,
Meysam Majidi Nezhad
6 and
Giuseppe Piras
6
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan, Rafsanjan 7718897111, Iran
2
Department of Planning, Design, and Technology of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Flaminia 72, 00196 Rome, Italy
3
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch (IAUCTB), Tehran 1468763785, Iran
4
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran 1411713116, Iran
5
School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan, Rafsanjan 7718897111, Iran
6
Department of Astronautics, Electrical and Energy Engineering (DIAEE), Sapienza University of Rome, 00184 Rome, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Processes 2021, 9(12), 2253; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9122253
Submission received: 9 November 2021 / Revised: 3 December 2021 / Accepted: 4 December 2021 / Published: 14 December 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Various Sustainable Energy Technologies in Buildings)
Browse Figures
Versions Notes

Abstract

:
The world’s electricity generation has increased with renewable energy technologies such as solar (solar power plant), wind energy (wind turbines), heat energy, and even ocean waves. Iran is in the best condition to receive solar radiation due to its proximity to the equator (25.2969° N). In 2020, Iran was able to supply only 900 MW (about 480 solar power plants and 420 MW home solar power plants) of its electricity demand from solar energy, which is very low compared to the global average. Yazd, Fars, and Kerman provinces are in the top ranks of Iran, with the production of approximately 68, 58, and 47 MW using solar energy, respectively. Iran also has a large area of vacant land for the construction of solar power plants. In this article, the amount of electricity generation using solar energy in Iran is studied. In addition, the construction of a 10 MW power plant in the city of Sirjan is economically and technically analyzed. The results show that with US$16.14 million, a solar power plant can be built in the Sirjan region, and the initial capital will be returned in about four years. The results obtained using Homer software show that the highest maximum power generation is in July.

1. Introduction

The renewable energy industry is a significant part of humankind’s mitigation mission for the planet’s viability. Solar energy is the most plentiful source of renewable energy. If truth be told, wind and other hydraulic energies have been attained from solar energy [1,2]. There are abundant fossil energies such as gas and oil sources in the southern provinces of Iran. However, it has chosen to turn to renewable energy [3]. By minimum environmental effects, Renewable Energy Sources (RESs), such as solar, geothermal, wind, etc., are suitable candidates for electricity generation worldwide [4,5]. In recent years in Iran, the simultaneous production of electricity and fresh water using solar energy has expanded rapidly [6,7,8,9]. Iran is located in an appropriate region for solar radiation due to its proximity to the equator (25.2969° N). Studies have proven that the utilization of solar equipment in Iran is expedient, and it can furnish the sector with the country’s energy needs [10]. Makkiabadi, et al. [11] studied wind and solar energy potentiality for four cities in Iran. Their results showed that a hybrid solar and wind plant’s electricity is 5444.56, 7642.49, 9335.89, and 8084.47 MWh, in four cities, Tabriz, Neyshabur, Ahvaz, and Sirjan, respectively. In 2020, 900 MW of electricity generation in Iran was supplied using solar power plants [12].
By using the angstrom approximated model, Moini et al. [13] purveyed the annual maps of Iran’s solar radiation. Besarati [14] provided a map showing solar energy touching the Earth surface in main Iranian cities. Finally, the global horizontal irradiance map for Iran was appraised by Alamdari et al. [15]. They suggested some places with average horizontal solar radiation above 500 Wh/m2 for photovoltaic (PV) usage. Several studies have, theoretically or experimentally, evaluated the efficiency of solar power plants in the world and Iran. A solar chimney power plant in China with a production capacity of 110–190 kWh and with a collector cover of 196,270 m2 was analyzed by Dai et al. [16]. Frederick and Reccab [17] investigated electricity generation by a solar chimney power plant in rural areas. Their results showed that about fifty households in rural regions could utilize this plant to consume their electricity.
Nizetic et al. [18] investigated the electrical energy capacity in Mediterranean countries and estimated the value and price of the electric energy generation derived by solar energy. The substantivity study of a solar chimney power plant for providing the remote villages in Algeria was analyzed by Labti et al. [19]. Their results showed that the solar chimney power plant can produce from 140 to 200 kW of electricity and this production was sufficient to satisfy the needs of the isolated areas, and the solar collector of the system might be utilized as a greenhouse for agricultural approaches. The impact of several parameters, such as air velocity, temperature, and moisture, and the effect of geometrical parameters on the performance of a solar chimney plant, was studied by Pasumarthi and Sherif [20,21]. R. Sangi, aimed to appraise the efficiency of solar chimney power plants in some cities of Iran and to estimate the amount of the produced electric energy [22]. Their results indicated that a solar chimney power plant with 350 m chimney height and 1000 m collector diameter could produce the monthly average of 1–2 MW electric power over a year. Hosseini et al. [23] compared six configurations for power plants based in Yazd city of Iran. They suggested an integrated solar combined cycle system with 67 MWe as the most suitable plan to be Iran’s the first solar power plant. They demonstrated that integrated solar combined cycle power plants in Iran could save about $59 million in fuel consumption and reduce about 2.4 million tons in Carbon Cioxide (CO2) emission over 30 years.
Solar power plants are essential to human beings, not only for their potential to supply electricity, but also for their help to mitigate CO2 emissions [24,25,26,27,28]. Wang et al. [29] studied economic and technical aspects of low-medium temperature solar energy plants. Their results showed that both enhancement in power generation and reduction in CO2 emission could be achieved with solar energy plants. Some other studies have also focused on technical and economic analyses of solar power plants [30,31,32,33]. To show the electricity production capacity of the solar power plants in the United States, Vasilis et al. [34] presented a theoretical analysis for PV-CAES and CSP power plants between 2011 and 2050 of general plans. They suggested that the US government build large solar power plants to produce 3800 TWh of electricity by 2050. This is enough to replace fossil fuels, and it can also be utilized to produce electrolytic hydrogen. Fathoni et al. [35] evaluated the technical end economic potentials of solar energy applications in Indonesia as a country with thousands of islands.
Southern countries near the equator have the highest solar radiation levels, and the construction of various types of solar power plants in these countries has been expanding rapidly in recent years [36,37,38,39,40,41]. Shafiey Dehaj and Hajabdollahi [42] modeled and optimized a wind/PV/battery/diesel hybrid system for different cities of Iran. Their results showed that optimum cost increases 4.63% and 17.60% for the best and worst conditions, respectively, for these cities in different solar, wind, and ambient temperature ranges. Numerical modeling of a solar chimney power plant in the southern region of Iran was studied by Bayareh [43]. In the 20,000 m2 area of Aksaray city in Turkey, an economic analysis of a solar power plant was presented by Taner [44]. It was confirmed that this plant can produce 1.65 million kWh/m2 per year. For the southern region of Tunisia, Trabelsi et al. [45] simulated a power plant with a parabolic collector. They investigated different climatic conditions and examined this power plant’s electrical, thermal, and economic efficiency with harm and dry cooling. An economical, technical, and comparative analysis of PV power plants to be installed in the southern region of Libya was studied by Eljrushi and Zubi [46]. Some other researchers also have studied Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants to work in some countries such as Iran, Turkey, and Iraq [47,48,49,50,51,52,53]. A review and a design methodology of CSP plants were presented by Zhang et al. [54]. They introduced all solar collector types and evaluated daily and monthly variations of the solar irradiation flux.
Pelay et al. [55] studied CSP plants with storage systems to find the key factors that affect the development of this technology in the efficient and cost-effective production of electricity. The after production CSP was envisaged to act at maximum temperatures than those currently utilized, for enhanced capacity and reduced cost of power production [56,57,58,59,60]. An analogy of CO2 emissions from fuel fossil and solar power plants in the United States was presented by Kreith et al. [61]. In the last decade, several researchers performed the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of solar energy systems and analyzed the environmental impacts of solar power plants on life and nature [62,63,64,65,66]. Nowadays, European, African, and Asian countries have begun to use solar power plants for building, agriculture, and industries [67]. In 2019, Spain was the largest solar market in Europe, producing about 4.7 GW. Germany, Netherlands, France, and Poland are in the following ranks with solar electricity production of 4 GW, 2.5 GW, 1.1 GW, and 784 MW, respectively.
After a brief introduction, the paper will continue, focusing on the following essential items:
1.
A summary of the world’s electricity generation using solar energy,
2.
Extensive study on the electricity production in Iran using solar energy,
3.
Economic and technical analysis of the construction of a 10 MW solar power plant in the southern region of Iran (Sirjan city).
This paper investigates the potential of electricity generation in Iran by using solar energy. Unfortunately, this potential has been overlooked so far. For this purpose, the paper contains the history and perspective of electricity generation by solar plants. Installed solar power plants are evaluated along with designed and simulated plants. Finally, this paper guides those who want to design a solar power plant in the southern regions of Iran and presents a brief report on the costs of building and operating such a plant.

2. Solar Energy Usage in the World

The technologies restraining RESs like wind and solar energy are determined by a power compression different instruction of value lower than fossil fuels [68,69,70]. As a result, the transmission to RESs is envisaged to strengthen the universal rivalry for land. For instance, the grabble of bioenergy energy has been already recognized as the main driver of recent land-use change in advanced regions [71,72,73]. Such an analysis technique would be a substantial contribution to solar power generation development both and regionally and nationally [74]. Furthermore, the use of PV panels to generate electricity has been increasing in recent years. The generation of electricity using solar and wind energy worldwide from 2000 to 2023 shows that the use of solar power energy to generate electricity is increasing rapidly [75,76].
Attig Bahar et al. [77] made an overall review of solar energy and the future desire to use solar energy. The time-averaged map of surface absorbed longwave radiation, assuming clear sky and no aerosol monthly 0.5 × 0.625 deg over January 1990–January 2021 (W/m−2) is shown in Figure 1. As it turns out, countries near the equator, such as Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, have acceptable levels of solar energy [78]. K.H Solangi et al. [79] reported that the world cumulative installed solar energy was 22.98 GW in 2009, a rapid change of 46.9% compared to 2008. Saleh H Alawaji [80] evaluated several research projects in terms of their technical and economic performance and feasibility in Saudi Arabia.
Figure 2 [81] shows that electricity generation using solar energy (PV panels) in 2000 was equal to 1.3 GW. In comparison, in 2020, it was 789 GW, which shows an 800% increase in electricity production using solar energy. Also in 2020, the amount of electricity generated using solar energy exceeded wind energy.
China is the world’s largest producer of electricity using solar energy. The production of electricity using solar energy in China in 2018 was equal to 175 gigawatts, which, with a significant increase in 2020, has reached about 254 gigawatts, and, according to forecasts, in 2023 will reach 448 gigawatts [82].
The amount of electricity generated using solar energy for different countries, such as China, the USA, and Japan, in 2018 is shown in Figure 3. Moreover, the increase in electricity production based on PV panels by 2023 is predicted to use about 1296 GW of solar energy [82]. As shown in this figure, the increase in electricity generation using solar energy is higher in China, the United States, and India than in other countries.
Furthermore, in 2019 and 2020, electricity generation using solar energy has been growing in the countries bordering the Persian Gulf. For example, the world’s largest solar project with a production capacity of nearly 1.2 GW was inaugurated in the UAE. Approximately 3.2 million panels have been used in the project, which provides an energy demand of 90,000 people and reduces CO2 emissions by up to one million metric tons [84]. In addition, by signing a memorandum of understanding, Saudi Arabia and Japan are making progress in developing a massive solar energy project that could see hundreds of gigawatts of solar farms built by 2030 in Saudi Arabia [85].
A solar cell transforms the energy in the photons of sunlight. The performance of solar cells hinges on spectral characteristics of sunlight, ambition temperature, and insolation. Therefore, it appears that PV technology can interrupt the perfect silicon solar cell market [86,87]. PV systems are classified into two original groups: (1) stand-alone and (2) grid-connected systems [88,89]. Considered definition, grid-connected systems are developing in China, Canada, and the US [90,91]. In urban areas, small and big PV power systems are utilized in mining, agriculture, and building industries to produce electricity for lights or produce fresh water by desalination [92,93,94,95]. A comprehensive classification of solar cells, modules, solar panels, solar array, solar PV systems, and PV effect is provided by Rabaia et al. [96].
A general schematic of a PV system is shown in Figure 4. The PV panel produced electricity in a DC output ordered by a charge controller and is stored in the battery. When needed, the energy stored in the battery is converted to AC via an inverter (DC/AC) for AC loads or otherwise, which supplies DC power directly [97,98,99,100].
In recent decades, the development of PV cells (a single solar cell), PV panels (a collection of single cells connected), and PV arrays (several individual PV panels electrically connected), as well as solar power plants have been proliferating. Basic schematics of a PV cell, PV panel, and PV array are shown in Figure 5 [101].
One problem preventing countries from using solar panels to generate electricity in recent years is their low efficiency. Therefore, many researchers have worked and studied changing the type of solar cells and increasing their efficiency in recent years. Figure 6 shows a schematic of different types of solar cells.
As shown in Figure 7, the ideal behavior of PV cells can be modelled as a diode. Based on the theory of electronics in solar cells (Figure 7), when the sun shines on the solar cell, the load current can be extracted in the following [103]:
I = I L − I 0 exp q ( V + I R S A k T − 1 − V + I R S R S H
where the junction current of the diode ( I d ) [104],
I d = I 0 exp q ( V + I R S A k T − 1
where I , I L , I 0 , q , k , T , R S , and R S H are the load current, the PV current, the reverse saturation current, electronic charge, Boltzmann constant, absolute temperature, series resistance, and parallel resistance, respectively.
A solar cell’s energy conversion efficiency ( η ) [104]:
η = P m E x A c
where P m , E , and A c are maximum power point, input light irradiance, and the surface area of the solar cell, respectively.

3. Solar Energy in Iran

Iran is located near the equator and southwest Asia, with an area of about 1,600,000 km2. In some cities of Iran, there are about 300 sunny days. For example, the hottest city in the world is the city of Shahdad, in Kerman province [105,106]. Sunlight and stormy winds can be seen in all cities of Iran [103]. This part of the world has desirable conditions for the beneficial utilizing of solar energy. Iran has good opportunities for the spread of waterpower, and it is an ideal country for the use of solar energy [107,108]. A careful study revealed that the average global radiation of Iran is about 19.50 (MJ/m2)/day [109,110].
The amount of forthcoming global radiation (∼2000 (kWh/m2)/year) in Iran and other countries near the equator, such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, is highest globally. Hosseini and Hosseini [111] studied a case study in Dehloran city located in the west of Iran to show how to utilize solar energy instead of gas and oil resources. Mostafaeipour et al. [112] studied the possibility of using solar energy in several regions of Iran. Their results showed that cities in central and southern regions could receive higher quantities of solar horizontal radiation. Southern Khorasan, Khuzestan, Yazd, and Kerman provinces catch considerable solar radiation values [113].
As shown in Figure 8, desirable cities with annual daily global radiation are located in the provinces of Kerman, Fars, Isfahan, and Yazd, in Iran. All large and small solar power plants are now located in these four provinces. Of course, other cities in Iran, such as Chaharmahal Bakhtiari, have an excellent ability to absorb solar energy. In recent years several solar power plants have been built in this province. The all-high fiord of the Yazd province is described by a high annual direct normal radiation of 2511 kWh/m2 [114,115,116].

4. Solar Power Plants in Iran

Iran has an extensive fossil source, and most of its power plants run on oil and gas. In recent years, environmental pollution has occurred in large cities like Tehran, Tabriz, and Isfahan. Also, with the expansion of industry and agriculture in Iran, the need for electricity is expanding. There is a shortage of electricity in the big cities of Iran now in the summer. Therefore, the Iranian government has been looking to establish solar power plants to provide electricity to their villages and cities in recent years. At present, the advantages of using clean energy against pollution and the high consumption and environmental costs of fossil fuels have led Iranians to use clean energy and fuel [117,118,119,120,121,122]. The renewable power plants’ geographical map is shown in Figure 9 [123].
The most significant number of solar power plants are installed in provinces of Kerman (with 4 to 10 MW solar power plants), Yazd (with 5 to 10 MW solar power plants), and Fars (with 7 to 10 MW solar power plants). In recent years, central cities of Iran such as Tehran (about 37.57 MW), Hamedan (about 31.4 MW), and Isfahan (about 13.45 MW) have also designed and built several solar power plants. The amount of power of solar power plants in the provinces of Iran is shown in Figure 10, where Yazd, Fars, and Kerman provinces with a capacity of 68.5, 98.8, and 54 MW, respectively, are the top provinces producing electricity from energy in Iran [124].
Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Organization (SATBA) reported that now 131 renewable power plants on a scale of MW with a total capacity of 876.69 MW have been put into operation. In addition, another 821 MW is under construction. Of these, there are 63 solar power plants with 433 MW and 20 wind power plants with about 308 MW (Figure 10). The rest of the power plants include small hydropower plants with a total capacity of 104.7 MW, biomass with a total capacity of 10.56 MW, and heat loss recovery from industrial processes with a total capacity of 13.6 MW [125].
As shown in Figure 11, about 178 million kWh of generated electricity is produced by renewable power plants in June 2021. As it turned out (Table 1), about 49% of electricity was generated by solar energy [126,127]. One of the critical points is that about 4277 thousand tons less CO2 have been prevented. Moreover, a study of technical and economic assessment of the integrated solar combined cycle power plants in Iran was analyzed by Hosseini et al. [23].
Their study showed that increasing steam turbine capacity by 50% and 4% improvement in total efficiency are other advantages of Integrated Solar Combined System with 67 MW solar power plant. In addition, theoretical and technical potential evaluation of solar power generation in Iran was studied by Ghasemi et al. [128]. Their study was about Sistan and Baluchestan provinces, and their results showed that about 14% of the province is suitable for constructing solar power plants.
Electricity generated by solar farms in the cities of Iran is shown in Figure 11. The capacity of large solar farms in Iran is about 433 MW, and the provinces of Yazd, Fars, and Kerman are about 68.4, 57.6, and 46.7 MW of electricity produced by solar farms, respectively.
Kerman is the most important city in the southeast of Iran. Due to sunlight on more than 300 days of the year, Kerman province is located in the center of the golden trapezoid of the country’s solar energy, unique natural space. Furthrermore, adequate infrastructure, which is a significant advantage, can make this province a clean energy supply and attract foreign investors [129,130,131,132]. The use of solar plans to meet the needs of Iranian villagers and nomads is increasing. One of the small solar power plants in Kerman can be seen in Figure 12a [133].
According to the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Organization (SATBA), a 10 MW power plant in Kerman province in Baft was connected to the grid [134]. The power plant is constructed in an area of 20 ha, using specialist and localized equipment by the private sector. It is estimated that by starting this solar plant, 9598 tons of environmental pollutants will be prevented, and 3060 cubic meters of water consumption will be reduced annually. In addition, the power plant will also save 3.95 million cubic meters of natural gas, annually, in Iran’s electricity production [135,136]. One of the largest solar power plants in Iran is located in Kerman province (Figure 12b). Mahan Solar Power Plant is designed to produce 20 megawatts per day. In total, 76,912 solar panels have been installed in this power plant, and about 21,000 bases have been hammered, and the amount of foreign investment in this project is US$27 million. Furthermore, this power plant will be converted to 100 megawatts in the future [137,138].
Kerman province has been considered one of Iran’s most proper provinces with the highest solar radiation. Eight solar power plants with a total capacity of 48.7 megawatts have been constructed and are running at the moment. In Kerman province, 926 solar rooftops with a capacity of 8228 kW have been installed [139]. In recent years, much research has been done to evaluate the possibility of electricity generation from solar energy in Kerman province [140,141,142]. For example, a comprehensive approach to design and improve a solar chimney power plant in Kerman Province was studied by Gholamalizadeh and Mansouri [143]. All large solar power plants in Kerman province are presented in Table 2.
Fars, a province located in the southwest of Iran, has an area of 122,400 km² [144]. The total capacity of renewable and clean power plants in Fars is 84.52 MW, which includes ten solar power plants with a cumulative capacity of 67.6 MW, a biomass power plant with a capacity of 1.065 MW, a wind power plant with a capacity of 0.66 MW, and two hydroelectric power plants with a capacity of 12.25 MW, as well as 331 small scale solar systems (roof) with a cumulative capacity of 2021 kW.
In Fars, there are several solar power plants with a capacity of 10 MW. Moreover, a list of high-power solar power plants in Fars is presented in Table 3. Renewable energy researchers in Fars are trying to show the people and the government the potential of converting solar energy into electricity [145,146,147].
In other provinces such as Isfahan, Tehran, Yazd, Hamedan (Figure 12c), and Khuzestan, a large solar power plant with a maximum capacity of 20 MW has been built. Table 4 lists several solar power plants in other cities of Iran [148].
Several other researchers across Iran have tried to cover the power consumption of industrial plants by technical and economic studies of various solar power plants [149,150]. For example, the techno-economic of PV systems capacity in Shiraz was studied by Yazdani and Yaghoubi [151]. In this analysis, a typical one MW solar plant was made in the software of PVsyst. The economic study displayed that enterprise in a PV system without any particular government help is economically advantageous, as the net present amount and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) were found to be US$1,367,499 and 17.09%, respectively.
A comprehensive study on the applications of different data-driven approaches in the performance modeling of solar units is introduced by Alhuyi Nazari et al. [152]. They are also in other studies on solar energy [153,154], reviews on the applications of multi-criteria decision-making approaches for power plant site selection.
In addition to the installed solar power plants, several research cases have been conducted to design solar power plants for Iran’s climatic conditions and to study them technically and economically. Table 5 shows the research cases that have dealt with this issue and explains their details.

4.1. Case Study (Sirjan City)

Sirjan is one of the cities of Kerman province, geographically located at 29°6′ N and 58°20′ E, and at 1760 m above sea level. The curves of the solar radiation and wind speed for Sirjan city for each month in 2018 are presented in Figure 13 and Figure 14, respectively [3].
The following data have been extracted to build a 10 MW-solar power plant in the Balord region of Sirjan. The design location of the solar power plant in Sirjan is shown in Figure 8.
The location must first be examined in terms of solar radiation and wind speed to design a solar power plant. By comparing the amount of wind and the intensity of solar radiation of Sirjan, it has been determined that this city has the potential to invest in the construction of a solar power plant. In this design, 25,000 PV panels with a capacity of 400 watts have been used. About 15 hectares of land are needed to build this solar power plant.
As shown in Figure 15, each array requires 5000 arrays of 50 solar panels. Both arrays are placed next to each other, forming 25 rows in each block. In each block, a 2.5 MW transformer and inverter are used to convert DC to EC.

4.2. Economic and Technical Study of a 10 MW Power Plant in Sirjan City

In the city of Sirjan, about 1900 to 2000 kWh/m2 solar energy (horizontal global irradiation) is received. The effective irradiance on the solar plant is about 2030 kWh/m2. Therefore, in a 10MW solar power plant in Sirjan, about 20,489 MWh nominal array energy. By calculating of array soloing, module quality, module array mismatch, and inverter loss, this solar power plant can produce 16,047 MWh per year.
To analyze the construction of a 10 MW solar power plant, it is necessary to first extract fixed costs (CAPEX costs) such as land, landscaping, and purchasing equipment. Table 6 shows a 10 MW solar power plant’s fixed cost by examining the Iranian and foreign markets.
After extracting the fixed costs, about $100,000 is the current cost to build this solar power plant. One of the most important parts is the sale of electricity. At the present time, in the summer, Iran government pays $40.0 per Megawatt.
Considering the 300 sunny days in the city of Sirjan, Table 7 below shows the production capacity of this power plant in each season; according to the sales rate in each season, the annual income of this power plant can be extracted. As shown in Table 7, a 10-megawatt solar power plant sells for about $893,868 a year.
The IRR is a measurement utilized in financial analysis to evaluate the profitability of possible investments. IRR is a discount rate that makes the Net Present Value (NPV) of all cash flows equal to zero in a discounted cash flow analysis. The formula and calculation for IRR can be utilized by the following equation:
N P V = ∑ t = 1 T C t 1 + I R R t − C 0
where C t , C 0 , and t are net cash inflow during the period, total initial investment costs, and the number of time periods, respectively.
A preliminary investigation revealed that the cost of purchasing solar panels is about US$10.7 million. Now, by calculating the investment cost and the current cost (such as the cost of power, energy, and maintenance), it is determined that IRR is equal to 21.05. The design information of a 10 MW solar power plant in Sirjan city is given in Table 8.

4.3. Technical Analysis with HOMER

After extracting the costs, this solar system’s technical and economic analysis can be provided using Homer software. Firstly, this design’s discount rate, inflation rate, annual capacity shortage, and project lifetime are 10, 15, 5, and 20, respectively. The amount of electricity production on a daily and monthly basis is shown in Figure 16 and Figure 17. As shown in Figure 16, the highest energy production in this power plant is in spring (starting from the 90th day) and summer (ending on the 270th day). As can be seen in this figure, solar energy production starts at 7 am and continues until 6 pm. Electricity generation in June, July, and August in Sirjan have are the highest, at 1.1, 1.05, and 0.95 KWh, respectively. Furthermore, the average gird sales in different months are shown in Figure 17.

5. Conclusions

The use of solar energy has increased globally, and countries are trying to meet their electricity needs in the industrial and agricultural sectors by solar power plants. It is predicted that by 2013, about 1296 GWh of the world will produce electricity using PV panels. In Iran in 2020, only about 900 megawatts of electricity will be produced with solar energy, which is very low compared to the global average.
In that case, we will find that the use of solar energy in Iran is deficient. However, the map of the solar global annual irradiation of Iran has shown that Iran’s southern cities are in the best position to receive solar radiation (it reached 2000 kWh/m2 in some places). Therefore, the public, private, and mining companies should enter this sector and generate electricity using renewable energy, such as solar energy.
In Fars, Kerman, and Isfahan provinces, there is a potential to meet the needs of industry and agriculture using solar energy. Economic analysis showed that about US$16.14 million is needed to build a 10 MW solar power plant in Sirjan. It has also been shown that the return on profit takes place in four years, and it can be concluded that investors can build a solar power plant.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, M.M., S.H.; Methodology, M.M., A.T., H.H.; investigation S.H., M.S., M.K.; resources M.M., A.T., H.H.; data curation S.H.; writing-original draft preparation M.M., A.T., M.S., M.K.; writing-review and editing S.H., H.H., M.M.N., G.P.; visualization M.M., M.M.N.; supervision G.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not Applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not Applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Not Applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Nomenclature

A Surface area (m2)
C 0 Total initial investment costs (&)
C t Net cash inflow during the period (&)
E Input light irradiance (W/m2)
I load current (A)
I L Photovoltaic current (A)
I 0 Reverse saturation current (A)
q Electronic charge
T Absolute temperature (K)
P m Maximum power point (W)
q Electronic charge
R S Series resistance ( Ω )
R S H Parallel resistance ( Ω )
k Boltzmann constant
I R R Internal rate of return
N P V Net present value
η nergy conversion efficiency

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Figure 1. Time averaged map of surface absorbed longwave radiation, assuming clear sky and no aerosol monthly 0.5 × 0.625 deg over January 1990–January 2021 (W/m−2) (giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov).
Figure 1. Time averaged map of surface absorbed longwave radiation, assuming clear sky and no aerosol monthly 0.5 × 0.625 deg over January 1990–January 2021 (W/m−2) (giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov).
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Figure 2. Generation of electricity with wind and solar energies [81].
Figure 2. Generation of electricity with wind and solar energies [81].
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Figure 3. Total cumulative capacity of installed PV by country [83]. (a) For 2018 and (b) for 2023.
Figure 3. Total cumulative capacity of installed PV by country [83]. (a) For 2018 and (b) for 2023.
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Figure 4. Basic Schematic of a PV system [97].
Figure 4. Basic Schematic of a PV system [97].
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Figure 5. PV cell, PV Panel, and PV array.
Figure 5. PV cell, PV Panel, and PV array.
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Figure 6. Technologies of solar cells [102].
Figure 6. Technologies of solar cells [102].
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Figure 7. The equivalent circuit of the solar cell.
Figure 7. The equivalent circuit of the solar cell.
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Figure 8. Map of annual, global, solar irradiation of Iran [113].
Figure 8. Map of annual, global, solar irradiation of Iran [113].
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Figure 9. Geographical map of renewable power plants [123].
Figure 9. Geographical map of renewable power plants [123].
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Figure 10. Share of all types of RE power plants [125].
Figure 10. Share of all types of RE power plants [125].
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Figure 11. The number of solar power plants in the provinces of Iran [126].
Figure 11. The number of solar power plants in the provinces of Iran [126].
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Figure 12. (a) A small solar plant in Kerman, (b) an installed PV power plant in Kerman with a 10 MW capacity, and (c) an installed solar power plant in Hamedan with a capacity of 7 MW [126].
Figure 12. (a) A small solar plant in Kerman, (b) an installed PV power plant in Kerman with a 10 MW capacity, and (c) an installed solar power plant in Hamedan with a capacity of 7 MW [126].
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Figure 13. Average monthly radiation (MJ/m2) in Sirjan city [3].
Figure 13. Average monthly radiation (MJ/m2) in Sirjan city [3].
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Figure 14. Average wind speed (m/s) in Sirjan city [3].
Figure 14. Average wind speed (m/s) in Sirjan city [3].
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Figure 15. Layout of a block in 10 MW solar power plant.
Figure 15. Layout of a block in 10 MW solar power plant.
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Figure 16. Daily electricity production in one year in Sirjan.
Figure 16. Daily electricity production in one year in Sirjan.
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Figure 17. Monthly electricity production in one year in Sirjan.
Figure 17. Monthly electricity production in one year in Sirjan.
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Table
Table 1. Electricity production in June 2021 and the cumulative (until July) in Iran.
Table 1. Electricity production in June 2021 and the cumulative (until July) in Iran.
Cumulative
(Till July 2021)		 June 2021
6377Generated Electricity from Renewable Energy (RE) (million KWh)178
1811Fossil Fuel Conservation (Million cubic meter natural gas)51
1403Water Conservation (million liter)39
4277Prevention CO2 (thousand ton)115
27Prevention of air pollutants (thousand ton)0.8
Table
Table 2. Solar power plants in Kerman province (PV power plant).
Table 2. Solar power plants in Kerman province (PV power plant).
Capacity (MW)CitySolar Plant
100 (Under Construction)BamBam
20KermanNoor Mahan
10BaftBaft
1BardsirArya
Table
Table 3. Solar power plants of Fars province.
Table 3. Solar power plants of Fars province.
Capacity (MW)CitySolar Plant
20 (Two plants with 10 MW)AbadehAbadeh
10ShirazKarno
10EghlidEghlid
4SarvastanSarvastan
10ShirazLohar
0.25ShirazShiraz
Table
Table 4. Installed solar power plants in Iran.
Table 4. Installed solar power plants in Iran.
Capacity (MW)CitySolar Plant
0.51TehranMolard
1ArakArak
7HamedanAmirkabir
7HamedanPersian Golf
10IsfahanZarigheh
17YazdYazd
10AlborzTaleghan
10TehranKomord
2ZanjanKohok
7ZanjanAbhar
1IsfahanSanat
1IsfahanNegar
10KhozestanAZIN
5MashhadKHAF
1.5SharkordSIMAN
Table
Table 5. Designed solar power plants for different regions in Iran.
Table 5. Designed solar power plants for different regions in Iran.
ReferencePlant TypeRegionCapacityEconomicalFurther Notes
Shahnazari and Lari [155]Parabolic Trough Concentrating Solar-thermal Power (CSP)Yazd62 to 398 MWe for different configurationsCost of produced electricity was 13.5 to 50 Euro per MWh for different configurationsThe benefit of integrating a solar field into a combined cycle plant was proved when compared to a standalone Solar Electricity Generating System (SEGS).
Asnaghi and Lajevardi [156]Solar Chimney Power Plant (SCPP)12 cities10 to 28 MWh/monthNot mentionedThe output of the SCPP system in southern regions of Iran is far more than in other regions.
Ghasemi et al. [128]PV collectors and Concentrating Solar-thermal Power (CSP)14 cities of Sistan and Baluchistan province7419 TWh/year for CSP and 8758 TWh/year for PV systemNot mentionedGeographical and technical potentials were also evaluated to choose the best region for establishing a power plant.
Hirbodi et al. [24]Parabolic trough and Solar Tower Power Plant (STPP)Soth-central regions of Iran20, 50,100 and 200 MWeThe best price was obtained as 11.3 c/KWhe and the best solar-to-electricity efficiency was 14.7%Environmental aspects, including reduction of CO2 emission and fossil fuel-saving, were also evaluated.
Hosseini et al. [23]Parabolic trough Integrated Solar Combined Cycle System (ISCCS) 67 MWeThe Levelized Energy Costs (LEC) of ISCCS-67 is 10 and 33% lower than the combined cycle and gas turbineThey found that an ISCCS-67 saves 59 million dollars in fuel consumption and reduces about 2.4 million tons of CO2 emission during the 30-year operating period.
Rafat et al. [157]A hybrid Multi Effect Desalination (MED) and solar power plantShiraz500 KWNot mentionedThe maximum energy efficiency of 14% was obtained. The maximum of 9.87 Kg/s fresh water was estimated to be produced. The best GOR was 6.82.
Besarati et al. [158]PV and CSP50 cities in Iran5 MWNot mentionedThe highest capacity factor was obtained as 26.1% for Bushehr. Environmental aspects were also investigated.
Asanghi [122]Solar Chimney Power Plant (SCPP)Five cities in Iran1–2 MW/yearNot mentionedA power plant with the chimney height of 350 m and collector diameter of 1000 m was capable.
Abadan was found as the best city for the plant.
Table
Table 6. CAPEX costs of a 10 MW solar power plant.
Table 6. CAPEX costs of a 10 MW solar power plant.
CostsTotal Price (US$)
Land240,000
Landscaping750,000
Construction630,000
Technology, equipment, installation and testing10,400,000
Facilities2,400,000
Unforeseen (10%)1,600,000
Pre-operation costs120,000
Total16,140,000
Table
Table 7. Sales cost of a 10 MW solar power plant.
Table 7. Sales cost of a 10 MW solar power plant.
SeasonNumber of DaysDaily Capacity (MWh)Seasonal Capacity (MWh)Sales Rate (US$/KWh)Sales Cost (US$)
Spring936661380.036220,968
Summer938074400.04297,600
Fall907063000.036226,800
Winter905549500.03148,500
Total366 24,828 893,868
Table
Table 8. Design information of a 10 MW solar power plant in Sirjan.
Table 8. Design information of a 10 MW solar power plant in Sirjan.
DescriptionUnitAmount
CitySirjan
LongitudeNorth29°6′ N
latitudeEast58°20′ E
Power plant capacityMegawatts10
Areasquare meters150,000
Number of solar panelsnumber25,000
Dimensions of each panelsquare meters2
Cost of purchasing panelsUS$10,700,000
The cost of building a power plantUS$16,140,000
Purchase priceUS$893,868
IRR%21.05
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Makkiabadi, M.; Hoseinzadeh, S.; Taghavirashidizadeh, A.; Soleimaninezhad, M.; Kamyabi, M.; Hajabdollahi, H.; Majidi Nezhad, M.; Piras, G. Performance Evaluation of Solar Power Plants: A Review and a Case Study. Processes 2021, 9, 2253. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9122253

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Makkiabadi M, Hoseinzadeh S, Taghavirashidizadeh A, Soleimaninezhad M, Kamyabi M, Hajabdollahi H, Majidi Nezhad M, Piras G. Performance Evaluation of Solar Power Plants: A Review and a Case Study. Processes. 2021; 9(12):2253. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9122253

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Makkiabadi, Mahmoud, Siamak Hoseinzadeh, Ali Taghavirashidizadeh, Mohsen Soleimaninezhad, Mohammadmahdi Kamyabi, Hassan Hajabdollahi, Meysam Majidi Nezhad, and Giuseppe Piras. 2021. "Performance Evaluation of Solar Power Plants: A Review and a Case Study" Processes 9, no. 12: 2253. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9122253

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