Volume 20: Sustainable Energy Solutions for a Post-COVID Recovery towards a Better Future: Part III

Optimization of a highly integrated CSP-PV plant Pilotti Lorenzo, Marco Colombari, Alessandro Castelli, Marco Binotti, Alberto Giaconia, Emanuele Martelli

Abstract

The dispatchability of renewable power plants and the role of energy storage are gaining relevance and hybrid technologies, such as CSP-PV plants, constitute a promising solution that can effectively exploit different synergies, lowering the production costs and, at the same time, increasing the overall system dispatchability.
This work proposes a model aimed at optimizing the design and operation of highly integrated concentrated-solar – photovoltaic power plants. The integration level occurs not only via the energy management system but also through the introduction of electric heaters in the TES, physically linking the CSP and PV plants.
The entire system has been optimized developing an accurate Mixed Integer Linear Programming model. It was demonstrated, how compared to the respective separate configurations, hybrid solutions can achieve similar performances at a lower LCOE.

Keywords CSP, PV, hybrid power plant, optimization, MILP.