Controlling stored energy in a concentrating solar thermal power plant to maximise revenue

PROJECT TITLE :

Controlling stored energy in a concentrating solar thermal power plant to maximise revenue

ABSTRACT:

New electricity generation technologies are typically assessed using straightforward metrics like average come, break-even energy prices or levelised value of electricity. These simple metrics do not continually capture the full economic value of a technology, notably people who will react quickly and efficiently to changes in demand. In a wholesale spot market, opportunities exist to capture larger revenues, as currently achieved by peak power plants. This study demonstrates the use of two complementary methods to see how storage ought to be operated to maximise revenue. First, the authors formulate and solve the problem as a linear program. The results indicate that there are distinct management modes. They then use Pontryagin's principle to substantiate that the optimal operating strategy has 3 distinct control modes: (i) store all collected power, while not generating, (ii) generate using collected power solely and (iii) generate at maximum capacity using both collected and stored power. The mode that ought to be used at any instant depends only on the spot value of electricity relative to a pair of important costs. These critical costs rely on the overall energy that can be collected and also the turnaround efficiency of the storage system.

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