Solar chimney power plant with integrated waste heat source on the ground: a numerical and statistical research with experimental validation

Abstract

Solar chimney power plants (SCPPs) offer a sustainable alternative to conventional energy. This study investigates the impact of integrating a waste heat source (WHS) into the SCPP ground using a 3D computational fluid dynamics model based on the Manzanares pilot plant, developed in ANSYS. A 90° sector model with the discrete ordinate solar ray tracing and RNG k-ϵ turbulence model is applied. At 1000 W/m2 solar radiation and 293 K, WHS integration increases power output (PO) from 54.141 to 129.278 kW at 250°C. Even without solar radiation, 101.524 kW PO is achieved at 200°C, highlighting WHS effectiveness in low-sun conditions.