Capacity Planning Model with CSP and Battery

Thermal storage in Concentrating Solar Power plants (CSP) and battery storage are still relatively expensive options to support renewable energy generation, but may offer significant flexibility benefits. This paper discusses a new formulation for embedding all three typical sub-components of a CSP plant (namely, solar field, storage, and power block in a solar tower configuration) in a long-term expansion planning model so that these are co-optimized. The proposed formulation can be accommodated in standard linear/mixed-integer linear programming (LP/MIP) models. A set of two illustrative case studies is used to demonstrate how selection of CSP capacity may be optimized using the proposed formulation, and how it may be influenced by factors such as: its ability to provide spinning reserve, presence of competing options such as a combination of PV and battery storage, and policy targets on renewables.