Start-Up Operation Strategy Optimization of the Solar Field for a Parabolic Trough Concentrated Solar Power Plant

Parabolic trough concentrated solar power (PTCSP) undergoes daily start-ups and shut-downs despite integrating thermal energy storage (TES). The PTCSP start-up process reduces its annual electricity production of PTCSP by 10% to 20% and increases its levelized cost of energy. An energetic analysis of a 50 MW PTCSP shows that nearly 30% of start-up energy loss has energy-saving potential by optimizing the system configuration or operational strategy. However, research on reducing the start-up energy consumption of PTCSP does not draw enough attention. Here, the start-up strategy of the receiver was optimized to reduce the start-up energy consumption. The receiver is divided into two sections with different start-up strategies. The start-up strategy of the first section employs the conventional receiver start-up strategy, and the start-up strategy of the other section is modified based on the power block start-up curve, which reduces the receiver temperature of the solar field. The results indicate that the energy and exergy of TES can be improved by 9.4% and 11.4%, respectively, by optimizing the receiver start-up strategy. The annual electricity production can be improved by 171.1 MWh (∼0.1%), and the annual net income is approximately 30000 $ when the feed-in tariff is 16.4 ¢·kWh⁻¹.