Javier García-Barberena

A clustering approach for the analysis of solar energy yields: A case study for concentrating solar thermal power plants

The design of Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CSTP) systems requires a detailed knowledge of the dynamic behavior of the meteorology at the site of interest. Meteorological series are often condensed into one representative year with the aim of data volume reduction and speeding-up of energy system simulations, defined as Typical Meteorological Year (TMY). This approach seems to be appropriate for rather detailed simulations of a specific plant; however, in previous stages of the design of a power plant, especially during the optimization of the large number of plant parameters before a final design is reached, a huge number of simulations are needed. Even with today’s technology, the computational effort to simulate solar energy system performance with one year of data at high frequency (as 1-min) may become colossal if a multivariable optimization has to be performed. This work presents a simple and efficient methodology for selecting number of individual days able to represent the electrical product...

Simulation and comparison of different operational strategies for storage utilization in concentrated solar power plants

The increase of electric power demand and the wish to protect the environment are leading to a change in the energy sources. Conventional energy plants are losing strength against the renewable energy plants and, in particular, solar energy plants have a huge potential to provide clean energy supply for the increasing world’s energy demand. Among the existing solar technologies, Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is one of the most promising technologies. One of the major advantages of CSP plants is the technically feasible and cost-effective integration of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems. To increase the plant dispatchability, it is possible to create different operational strategies defining how such TES system is used. In this work, different strategies with different overall goals have been simulated over a complete year and the results are presented and compared here to demonstrate the capabilities of the operational strategies towards an increased dispatchability and plant economic effectiveness. ...

Modeling of decoupling concentrated solar power plant

This study investigates a model based on thermodynamic concept to improve the performance of the power block of the concentrated solar power (CSP) systems. The analytical solution of this model established by Aspen HYSYS, Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software programs and Matlab software programming system (Code and Simulink package) to study its performance. The model consists of normal combined cycle (CC), so we studied the efficiency of each component like turbines, compressor, pump, heat exchanger and preheater, at the same time we coupled the CC with storage system to make heat and mechanical stability for the cycle. Decoupled scheme of the power block was developed by adding storage system between the gas cycle and the steam cycle. Then, the performance and the output power of the system were evaluated.

Adjustment and validation of a simulation tool for CSP plants based on parabolic trough technology

The present work presents the validation process carried out for a simulation tool especially designed for the energy yield assessment of concentrating solar plants based on parabolic through (PT) technology. The validation has been carried out by comparing the model estimations with real data collected from a commercial CSP plant. In order to adjust the model parameters used for the simulation, 12 different days were selected among one-year of operational data measured at the real plant. The 12 days were simulated and the estimations compared with the measured data, focusing on the most important variables from the simulation point of view: temperatures, pressures and mass flow of the solar field, gross power, parasitic power, and net power delivered by the plant. Based on these 12 days, the key parameters for simulating the model were properly fixed and the simulation of a whole year performed. The results obtained for a complete year simulation showed very good agreement for the gross and net electric ...