Impact of a 200 MW concentrated receiver solar power plant on steady-state and transient performances of Oman transmission system

The paper presents steady-state and transient studies to assess the impact of a 200 MW Central Receiver Solar Power Plant (CRSPP) connection on the Main Interconnected Transmission System (MITS) of Oman. The CRSPP consists mainly of a central solar receiver, power tower, thousands of heliostats, molten salt storage tanks, heat exchangers, steam generator, steam turbine, synchronous generator, and step-up transformer. Two proposed locations are considered to connect the CRSPP plant to MITS: Manah 132 kV and Adam 132/33 kV grid stations. The 2015 transmission grid model has been updated to include the simulation of the proposed 200 MW CRSPP using the DIgSILENT PowerFactory professional software. The studies include load flow analysis and short-circuit level calculations in addition to transient responses to three-phase fault and complete CRSPP outage. The results have shown that the connection of the proposed CRSPP plant to the MITS is acceptable.