Replacement of Solar Dish Collectors to Provide Heat in the Power Plant: Case Study Malaysia

Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) will be produced during the combustion of fossil fuels to generate electricity. Besides, the available resource of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas are declining. However, thermal power plants in Malaysia are still using the conventional way to produce heat in the boilers and gas turbines instead of using solar energy. Thus, this research aims to investigate the possibility of providing heat to the power plant in Malaysia by using the heat collected from solar dish collectors instead of using the combustion of fossil fuels, and the heat will be stored by using phase change material (PCM). The solar radiation at the chosen power plant, which is Sejingkat Power Plant, will be simulated by using the ASHRAE model in MATLAB. Next, the modeling of the designed solar dish collector and thermal energy storage (TES) by using phase change materials (PCM) are simulated in MATLAB as well. The simulated result shows that there is high solar radiation, and the designed solar dish collector can achieve high thermal efficiency. The TES is expected to store enough amount of energy for the time without sunlight or night time usage.