Umudike Journal of Engineering and Technology

Performance assessment of a solar organic Rankine system (SORS) for electricity generation was carried out to determine the suitability of the system based on local solar radiation conditions available in MOUAU. Refrigerants R113, R141b, R123, R11, and R142b were used for the modelling to present a wide range of options with regards to system efficiency and cost of operation. To determine the nature of local weather conditions, solar radiation data was used to ascertain monthly energy averages for the simulation. System performance evaluation was simulated with Engineering Equation Solver (EES) to predict the power output from the system with the stated operating parameters. The results obtained shows power output in the system to range between 7 Kw to 18 kW for an average ambient temperature of 28^oC at a refrigerant mass flow rate of 1.5 kg/s. Additionally, a techno economic evaluation of the system using the bare module cost for a heat input range of 20 kW ≤Q ≤ 45 kW, reflected a cost range of $52211≤C_T≤$93751, $50861≤C_T≤$88166, $53468≤C_T≤$96441, $55567≤C_T≤$92752, and $54907≤C_T≤$86425, for R113, R141b, R11, R123, and R142b respectively. The Net power output index (NPI) values for the considered refrigerants increased with increase in heat input which results from increased turbine output. Finally, the NPI values which averaged 0.5402W/$, 0.5153 W/$, 0.5577 W/$, 0.5494 W/$, and 0.5259 W/$, for R113, R141b, R11, R123, and R142b respectively, suggests the implementation of a SORS as practical, attractive and feasible for the MOUAU campus.