Optimal Operation of Solar Tower Plants with Thermal Storage for System Design
F Casella (Politecnico di Milano)
E.I.M. Casati (TU Delft - Flight Performance and Propulsion)
Piero Colonna di Paliano (TU Delft - Flight Performance and Propulsion)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
Concentrated Solar Power CSP plants are increasingly being considered for construction worldwide, in order to meet the demand for renewable power generation. The most promising technology considered today employs a central receiver, illuminated by a heliostat eld, using molten salts as working
uid. A distinctive feature of these plant is the possibility of thermal energy storage, providing 15 or more hours of full power operation without solar
irradiation. The state-of-the-art SAM software is often use for sizing the plant and evaluating the return on investment, assuming a straightforward and short-sighted control strategy. In this paper, a model similar to that used by SAM is developed and then used to demonstrate the potential advantages of optimal control, in a context of variable taris with higher prices during peak hours. The modelling and optimization problems are formulated with the high-level Modelica and Optimica languages, which allows to solve the problem with minimal eort. This paper is a rst step to promote the use of optimal control techniques and high-level modelling languages for the correct evaluation of the potential performance of CSP plants with thermal storage during their design phase.
help_outline