### Authors and related work

These files are associated with the presentation (SOLARPACES2023 conference) entitled:
 "Comparison of parabolic troughs and solar photovoltaic as solar field technology in dispatchable solar power plants: a competitiveness assessment":

The authors of the paper are part of the Renewable Energies Chair - University of Évora, Portugal.
Authors:

Pedro Horta,
Tiago Eusébio,
André Santos,
Radia Cadi,
Luís Fialho

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### Brief model description

The associated files enable a TRNSYS user to perform an annual simulation (with hourly timesteps) for each considered system.
The files refer to the following systems:

 - PVTS Solar Field with a TES and Power Cycle (filename: evora_pvts_simulation_SM3.0_FLH10.0.dck)
	
	Simulates a PV solar field that can produce electricity that can be directed towards the electric grid - "PV2GRID" - or can heat up a hot molten salt tank by means of an electric heater - "PV2HEAT". 
	If the PV output is higher than the nominal power (100 MWe_net), then the remaining power is directed towards the electric heater - "PV2HEAT" (if the hot tank is not full).
	If the PV output is lower than the nominal power (100 MWe_net), then all power is directed towards the electric heater - "PV2HEAT" (if the hot tank is not full).
	Besides the direct "PV2GRID", the power plant injects electric power to grid using a power block (Rankine cycle) if the PV2GRID=0 (if the hot tank is not empty).
	

 - PTPP Solar Field with a TES and Power Cycle (filename: evora_ptpp_simulation_SM3.0_FLH10.0.dck)
	
	Simulates a Parabolic Trough (PT) solar field that produces heat (heating up molten salt as HTF) that can be directed towards Power block (and produce electricity) and/or to the hot molten salt tank.
	If the PT output is higher than the nominal power (100 MWe_net equivalent), then the remaining power is directed towards the hot molten salt tank (if the hot tank is not full).
	If the PT output is lower than the nominal power (100 MWe_net equivalent), then all power is directed towards the hot molten salt tank (if the hot tank is not full).
	The power plant injects electric power to grid using previously stored energy, directing it to the power block (Rankine cycle) if the PT output power is not enough to run the Power Block (and if the hot tank is not empty).


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### How to run the model

The .dck files can be opened in TRNSYS 17 software (Simulation Studio).
It requires TESS Library to be installed as well.

They provide a working model that has a specific Solar Multiple (SM) and Full Load Hours (FLH) values, in this case SM=3 and FLH=10.
The user can open the file and run directly.

As outputs, the model enables the user to assess graphically the hourly behaviour of the system and subsystems (by selecting different tabs).
Besides the graphical output, the model provides a .txt file with the annual sum of the outputs of interest (for instance, the plant yield is denoted "Plant2Grid").
The purpose of these models is to simulate the annual behaviour (hourly) and then provide a plant yield for later assessment.                 	

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### Important notes to run the model

NOTE1: 
The only dependent file is the weather file, which here is considered for Evora, Portugal.
The user can change to a different location based on the .tm2 files existing in TRNSYS database.
If the TRNSYS user has the software installed as recommended (path "C:\Trnsys17") there should be no problem in running.
The full path associated with the weather file is "C:\TRNSYS17\Weather\Meteonorm\Europe\PT-Evora-85570.tm2".

NOTE2:
There are some dependencies in some parameters associated to the components.
That is why the provided .dck files only works adequately for SM=3 and FLH=10, without introducing any value.
Parametric variation was backed by python routines to provide adequate inputs/parameters values to certain components.