Parabolic-trough (PT) concentrated solar power (CSP) plants are very vulnerable to daily fluctuations in
solar radiation. This dependence can be mitigated through a hybridization of solar energy with natural
gas based heaters that supply thermal energy during the night or whenever solar irradiance level is
dimmed. However, there is more sustainable way for CSP plants to avoid power-generation-outages
caused by transient weather conditions, i.e. installation of thermal energy storage (TES). Such a system
stores surplus thermal energy provided by solar field during sunny hours and discharges it when the
sun is not available. Shams-1 PT plant in Madinat-Zayed, United-Arab-Emirates (UAE) has two natural
gas based components, i.e. steam-booster heater and heat transfer fluid (HTF) heater. In the current
study, model of Shams-1 was developed and analyzed in the System Advisor Model (SAM) software. It
has been attempted to replace the HTF heater with TES. A parametric study has been conducted to
determine the size of the TES as well as the solar field such that the specified power target demand
would be satisfied. The results of the parametric analysis showed that TES can't completely replace the
HTF heater, within reasonable sizes. Nevertheless, consequent simulations depicts that TES increases the
capacity factor on one hand and decreases fuel consumption on the other hand.