Humanity is facing the challenge of reducing its environmental impact. For this reason, many specialists worldwide have been studying the processes of production and efficient use of energy. In this way, developing cleaner and more efficient energy systems is fundamental for sustainable development. The present work analyzed the technical feasibility of a solar-driven power-cooling system operating in a particular location in Mexico. The theoretical system integrates organic Rankine and single-stage absorption cooling cycles. A parabolic trough collector and a storage system integrated the solar system. Its performance was modeled for a typical meteorological year using the SAM software by NREL. The analyzed working fluids for the organic cycle include benzene, cyclohexane, toluene, and R123, while the working fluid of the absorption system is the ammonia-water mixture. The cycle’s first and second-law performances are determined in a wide range of operating conditions. Parameters such as the energy utilization factor, turbine power, COP, and exergy efficiency are reported for diverse operating conditions. It was found that the highest energy utilization factor was 0.68 when the ORC utilized benzene as working fluid at ORC and ACS condensing temperatures of 80 °C and 20 °C, respectively, and at a cooling temperature of 0 °C. The best exergy efficiency was 0.524 at the same operating conditions but at a cooling temperature of −10 °C.

Climate change is one of the main problems that humanity is currently facing due to carbon dioxide emissions caused by fossil fuel consumption. Organic Rankine cycles may play an important role in reducing these emissions since they can use industrial waste heat or renewable energies. This study presents the proposal and modeling of an organic Rankine cycle integrated into a double-effect absorption cooling system for the simultaneous production of power and cooling. The working fluids utilized were the ammonia–lithium nitrate mixture for the absorption system and benzene, cyclohexane, methanol, and toluene for the organic Rankine cycle. The influence of the primary operating parameters on the system performance was analyzed and discussed in terms of cooling load, turbine power, energy utilization factor, and exergy efficiency for a wide range of operating conditions. It was found that, for all cases, the cooling load was dominant over the turbine power since the minimum cooling load obtained was above 50 kW, while the maximum turbine power was under 12.8 kW. For all the operative conditions analyzed, the highest performance parameters were obtained for benzene, achieving an energy utilization factor of 0.854 and an exergy efficiency as high as 0.3982.

Islands and remote electricity systems are heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels, resulting in high costs, adverse environmental impacts, and high vulnerability to supply disruption. The implementation of innovative solutions is needed to diversify the energy generation mix, enhance grid reliability, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions on islands. This study explores the techno‐economic viability of a proposed solar power tower (SPT) plant designed for the island power system of Baja California Sur (BCS), which is 86% based on imported fossil fuels. Using a computer‐parametric analysis based on the system advisor model (SAM), a 50 MWe SPT with molten salt storage is designed and optimized under different operational parameters and the climatic conditions of BCS. The second focus of the study is financial feasibility, which involves examining regional electricity prices, determining the power purchase agreement (PPA) price, and calculating the levelized cost of electricity (LCoE) and the net present value (NPV) of the project under different scenarios. The study also considers the strategic selection of the site and reviews the BCS’s current energy demand and its potential solar resources. The 50 MWe SPT plant achieved an LCoE of 10.97 ¢/kWh. The average electricity rate of 19.4 ± 8.8 ¢/kWh makes SPT technology viable in the isolated BCS system. When energy price variability is accounted for using the TOD factor, a 17% improvement in NPV was observed. The findings show that the SPT is economically viable for island power grids such as BCS.

Heliostats are critical components of solar tower technology and different strategies have been proposed to reduce their costs; among them diminishing their size to reduce wind loads or linking nearby heliostats mechanically, to reduce the overall number of actuators. This document aims to describe the development of a linked array of mini-heliostats which move together in an elevation–Fresnel configuration. This configuration consists of an array of mirrors rotating around linked parallel axes, in a linear Fresnel style with an added elevation mechanism allowing all axes to incline simultaneously in the plane North–South–Zenith; that is equivalent to an array of N linked mini-heliostats moved by only two drives instead of 2N. A detailed analytical study of the Sun-tracking performance of this kind of heliostat arrays was carried out, and an 8-mirror prototype based on optical and mechanical analyses was designed, built and tested. Even though the mirrors are flat, the array produced a rather compact radiative flux distribution on the receiver. The flux distribution is compatible with a slope error of the order of 1 mrad. Peak and mean concentration ratios reached 6.89 and 3.94, respectively.