A Feasibility Assessment of Utilizing Concentrated Solar Power (Csp) in the Zimbabwean Regions of Hwange and Lupane

Study assesses the feasibility of the Hwange-Lupane regions of Zimbabwe to host a large-scale Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) facility. The study performed a techno-economic analysis to meet the objectives of the study. However, considering that CSP technologies are currently costly, errors in determining a suitable site can lead to substantial economic penalties. The study combines the Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) type of Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) to locate the suitable site. After applying the GIS-AHP combination, land available for concentrating solar power in Hwange and Lupane is 1 792 km2 (5.6% of the study area) and 3 771 km2 (11.9% of the study area), respectively. A Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) was used to estimate the technical power potential. The theoretical power potential for the suitable location in Hwange and Lupane ranges from 529 TWh/year to 696 TWh/year and 1 207 TWh/year to 1 613 TWh/year, respectively. The System Advisor Model (SAM) is used to evaluate the economic potential of a CSP facility with/without a Thermal Energy Storage (TES). The Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) for the CSP plant without TES and with TES is 0.1879 $/kWh, and 0.1468 $/kWh, respectively