Heat transfer fluid temperature control in a thermoelectric solar power plant

Abstract

Thermoelectric solar plants transform solar energy into electricity. Unlike photovoltaic plants, the sun's energy heats a fluid (heat transfer fluid (HTF)) and this, in turn, exchanges its energy, generating steam. Finally, the steam generates electricity in a Rankine cycle. One of the main advantages of this double conversion (sun energy to heat in the HTF-Rankine cycle) is the fact that it facilitates energy storage without using batteries. It is possible to store the heat energy in melted salts in such a way that this energy will be recovered when necessary, i.e., during the night. These molten salts are stored in containers in a liquid state at high temperature. The HTF comes into the solar field at a given temperature and increases its energy thanks to the solar collectors. In order to optimize the sun to HTF energy transference, it is necessary to keep an adequate temperature control of the fluid at the output of the solar fields. This paper describes three different algorithms to control the HTF output temperature.