The costs are strongly depending on the boundary conditions and on the economy of scales, therefore no simple answer can be given. Solar power with direct steam generation has a 20 to 30% advantage over the hot oil CSP due to savings in equipment and in a better thermodynamic efficiency.

Kindly provide more information about your project.

Concentrating Solar Power with (Dish Concentrator) Stirling Engine is also a good option because it can give higher efficiency than PTC and solar tower. However, to do the techno economic these technologies you can use System Advisor Model software developed by NREL, USA. It is free of cost where you can develop a virtual system with real time parameters and datas. 

If you are asking for lower-temperature solar simulation software, try this url: http://kalkener.com. This software calculates the main components of this type of power plants, its annual energy production and key performance and profitable indicators (Net Present Value -NPV- and Internal Rate of Return -IRR-), once the user has introduced the hot water energy demmanded (in a daily, weekly and monthly basis),  the location of the installation (through latitude and longitude) and the rest of variables (Supplied water average temperature, shadows, etc.).

Nowadays this software is available in spanish only bUt in the short term it will be available in english and chinese.

Regards,

Jorge

How can I model the techno-economic performance of a solar thermal system?. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_can_I_model_the_techno-economic_performance_of_a_solar_thermal_system [accessed May 10, 2015].

Dear friends.

We are proud to inform you that our solar thermal water heating calculating online software, available through http://kalkener.com/en/, is now available in English and it has been included into the following specialized websites (herein you will find attached their links):

• BUILD-UP: The European portal for energy efficiency in buildings

and

• The International Building Performance Simulation Association (IBPSA) IBPSA-USA

If you are interested in test it, please don´t hesitate to contact me through [email protected] and i will provide you a free trial period.

Regards!

http://www.buildup.eu/es/node/48077

http://www.buildingenergysoftwaretools.com/software/kalkener-solar-thermal-water-heating-systems-online-simulation-software

http://kalkener.com/en/