Method for thermal energy dispatch
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method for dispatching thermal energy in a power generating plant having thermal storage, a power block configured to generate electricity from thermal energy, and a processor having a computer readable medium encoded with an operating window of time comprising a plurality of generating time intervals, each having an associated relative revenue value, the method comprising:
- (a) estimating the thermal energy available from an energy collector field for each generating time interval during the operating window based on weather data;
(b) adding the thermal energy available for each time interval to thermal storage on the condition that the power block can draw thermal energy only from thermal storage instead of from the energy collector field;
(c) selecting a plurality of generating time intervals based on the relative revenue values for each generating time interval in which there is sufficient thermal energy in thermal storage to operate the power block, the plurality of selected generating time intervals defining a first thermal energy dispatch schedule;
(d) determining whether additional generating time intervals may be added on the condition that the power block can draw thermal energy from one of the energy collector field, thermal storage, or a combination thereof;
(e) adding additional generating time intervals based on said determining step (d) to the first thermal energy dispatch schedule to define a second thermal energy dispatch schedule; and
(f) dispatching thermal energy between the energy collector field, thermal storage, and the power block according to the second thermal energy dispatch schedule.
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Abstract
A system and computer-implemented method for dispatching thermal energy and generating power in a solar power generating plant. The system includes a computer processor, computer readable medium, and control logic stored on the computer readable medium to direct the operation of the processor. The processor generates an optimized thermal energy dispatch schedule which controls operation of the generating plant by performing a combination of direct thermal energy and indirect thermal energy storage simulations to maximize operating revenues.
18 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method for dispatching thermal energy in a power generating plant having thermal storage, a power block configured to generate electricity from thermal energy, and a processor having a computer readable medium encoded with an operating window of time comprising a plurality of generating time intervals, each having an associated relative revenue value, the method comprising:
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(a) estimating the thermal energy available from an energy collector field for each generating time interval during the operating window based on weather data; (b) adding the thermal energy available for each time interval to thermal storage on the condition that the power block can draw thermal energy only from thermal storage instead of from the energy collector field; (c) selecting a plurality of generating time intervals based on the relative revenue values for each generating time interval in which there is sufficient thermal energy in thermal storage to operate the power block, the plurality of selected generating time intervals defining a first thermal energy dispatch schedule; (d) determining whether additional generating time intervals may be added on the condition that the power block can draw thermal energy from one of the energy collector field, thermal storage, or a combination thereof; (e) adding additional generating time intervals based on said determining step (d) to the first thermal energy dispatch schedule to define a second thermal energy dispatch schedule; and (f) dispatching thermal energy between the energy collector field, thermal storage, and the power block according to the second thermal energy dispatch schedule. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method implemented in a computer processor for dispatching thermal energy in a solar power generating plant having thermal storage, a power block configured to generate electricity from thermal energy, and a processor having a computer readable medium encoded with an operating window of time comprising a plurality of generating time intervals each having an associated relative revenue value, the method comprising:
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(a) estimating an amount of thermal energy produced from a solar collector field associated with the generating plant during the operating window; (b) adding to thermal storage the amount of thermal energy available from the solar collector field assuming the power block will draw thermal energy from thermal storage instead of from the solar collector field; (c) selecting a generating time interval during the operating window based on a predetermined selection criteria; (d) reducing energy in the thermal storage device by an amount of energy required by a power block for generating electricity during the selected time interval; (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) until there is not enough energy available in thermal storage to meet the energy needed by the power block for generating electricity for the selected time interval; (f) determining, based on each generating time interval in the first dispatch schedule, if there is thermal energy available from the solar collector field during that time interval; (g) performing one of;
dispatching thermal energy from the solar collector field directly to the power block for the given time interval if the amount of energy available from the collector field meets or exceeds the requirements of the power block;
or dispatching thermal energy from the solar collector field directly to the power block and drawing thermal energy from thermal storage for the given time interval if the amount of energy available from the collector field is less than the requirements of the power block;(h) repeating steps (f) and (g) until there is insufficient thermal energy available from the collector field and thermal storage to generate electricity for another time interval; (i) determining an amount of thermal energy remaining in thermal storage after steps (f) through (h); (j) determining if the amount of thermal energy in thermal storage from step (i) is sufficient to generate electricity for any additional time intervals by repeating steps (c) to (d); (k) adding any additional generating time intervals from step (j) to the first thermal energy dispatch schedule to produce a second thermal energy dispatch schedule; and (l) controlling the dispatch of thermal energy in the generating plant according to the second thermal energy dispatch schedule. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer implemented method for determining a window of time for optimizing a thermal dispatch schedule in a power generating plant, the method comprising:
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(a) setting in a processor an optimizing window of time having a first time duration comprising a plurality of power generating time intervals; (b) receiving revenue profile data corresponding to the optimizing window of time, the revenue profile data comprising relative revenue values for each of said plurality of power generating time intervals; (c) receiving weather prediction data associated with said optimizing time window; (d) selecting a predetermined number X of revenue generating time intervals having the greatest relative revenue values, based on said revenue profile data, from the optimizing window; (e) processing said predetermined number X of revenue generating time intervals according to a mathematical function to obtain a processed revenue value; (f) selecting a predetermined number Y of generating time intervals having the greatest available solar energy from said plurality of time intervals from the optimizing window, based on said weather prediction data; (g) processing said predetermined number Y of solar energy time intervals according to a mathematical function to obtain a processed solar energy value; (h) comparing the processed solar energy value with the processed revenue value and based on said comparison, when said processed solar field value exceeds said processed revenue value;
increasing the time duration of the optimizing window by a predetermined amount, and repeating steps (b)-(h) for the new optimizing window;(i) storing in the processor the optimizing window from step (h) with associated duration, representing a final optimizing window of time; and (j) using the final optimizing window to dispatch thermal energy in the generating plant. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification