Thermo-economic analysis of a solar multi-effect distillation plant installed at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria (Spain)

A solar desalination plant was installed at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria (PSA), Spain, and its first start-up took place in July, 1988. It is a mul ti-effect distillation (MED) system coupled to a one-axis tracking collecto r field and to a double-effect absorption heat pump. This plant was thermo- economically analyzed in some aspects, which complete the previous studies performed by the research team of the PSA. In this paper the influence on t he product cost of some parameters was evaluated: thermal energy cost, numb er of effects, plant capacity and daily operation hours. In addition, the w ater costs of this solar MED plant were compared with a conventional energy source plant. Moreover, the effect on the competitiveness of the solar des alination system of the financial and fiscal politics parameters has been s tudied as well as the effect of the fuel and equipment cost evolution.