Controls and operational strategy for gen 3 particle pilot plant

A comprehensive control strategy is necessary to safely and effectively operate particle based concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies. Particle based CSP with thermal energy storage (TES) is an emerging technology with potential to decarbonize power and process heat applications. The high-temperature nature of particle based CSP technologies and daily solar transients present challenges for system control to prevent equipment damage and ensure operator safety. An operational controls strategy for a tower based particle CSP system during steady state and transient conditions with safety interlocks is described in this paper. Control of a solar heated particle recirculation loop, TES, and a supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO(2)) cooling loop designed to reject 1 MW of thermal power are considered and associated operational limitations and their influence on control strategy are discussed.