Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
It is essential that the power plant process is taken into account when optimizing solar components. A trend towards higher solar array temperatures is emerging in the development of solar thermal power plant technology, as a rise in temperature may cause the power plant’s thermodynamic efficiency to increase. However, higher temperatures also result in greater component costs and a climb in thermal losses in the solar array. Therefore, in order to optimize the live steam parameters with respect to the minimum levelized cost of electricity, we have, for example, used our in-house developed ColSim software to implement a model of a linear Fresnel power plant that generates steam directly, and to connect this model with a cost model. This has enabled us to conduct optimization studies for different locations and power plant concepts.