A Configuration-dispatch Scheme and Techno-economic Evaluation for Large-scale Photovoltaic/Concentrating Solar Power Plants

With the increasing penetration of renewable sources, solar power generation systems, such as photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP), play a crucial role among various energy utilization. Largely introducing PV may have positive economic benefits but also harmful impacts on stability meanwhile due to its intermittent characteristics. However, thermal energy storage (TES) exhibits great potential in solving the problem by smoothing the variable output despite its high costs; therefore, large-scale integrated plants are in line with the market trend and worth of in-depth study. In this paper, the configuration-dispatch scheme with security and economy evaluation of large-scale hybrid PV/CSP generation plants is proposed, aiming at comprehensive and reasonable capacity determination of plant planning. Firstly, the modelling of each solar subsystem is presented, as well as the operation schemes of DC transmission channel according to the demand of receiving side. Then, the configuration-dispatch optimization model is presented to maximum the techno-economic benefits of whole systems, including the object and operation constraints. Furthermore, an instructive and comprehensive evaluation index system is established concerning economy and security impacts. The validity of the proposed scheme is examined based on a large-scale hybrid solar generation base in northwest China.