Performance estimation of a solar chimney power plant (SCPP) in several regions of Turkey

As the demand for energy increases, it will be more and more necessary for Turkey to diversify its energy sources by investing in renewable energy technologies. In this study, we have presented an updated review of solar chimney power plants, including most analytical, experimental, and numerical simulation studies. We have also analyzed the effect of environmental factors on the performance of a large/small scale prototype of a solar chimney with a thermal storage system for different meteorological data. We have considered five regions of Turkey corresponding to different weather conditions (Adana, Antalya, Burdur, Isparta, and Izmir). The small-scale prototype's theoretical results were compared with the solar chimney prototype's experimental data acquired at the Suleyman Demirel University. Good agreement is observed between theoretical and experimental results. The obtained results showed that the global horizontal irradiance, the temperature, the relative humidity, and the wind velocity influence the power output. Antalya region has the best power production according to it is the warmest and most irradiating site. Notice that the total annual power produced is 46.34E+6 kWh and 439.1E+3 kWh for large and small prototypes, respectively. The high wind velocity of the region generates a decrease in power production.