Holistic optimisation of modular field design including heliostats, receivers, towers, HTF piping and operations.

This paper examines the optimisation of a modular tower field CSP plant enabled by the use of sodium as the heat transfer fluid (HTF). It considers how the optimisation differs from a central tower field optimisation. The paper assesses the effect of the number of modular fields, field size, field aspect ratio, HTF piping optimisation, heliostat design, solar array optimisation, receiver sizing, and cleaning constraints on the whole plant operational and cost efficiency. The iterative techno-economic study has demonstrated the importance of allowing multiple aspects of component design, solar array morphology, manufacturing technique and material, manufacturing and installation cost, and efficient operations to interact fully, and the ways in which these interactions can result in accepted optimisation wisdoms being contradicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]