Reducing Solar Dish Park Production Volatility Utilizing Lithium-ion Batteries

Abstract

Solar dish-Stirling technology is the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology that can be more easily integrated into Distribution networks due to its small size. However, a disadvantage of this technology is that features shorter thermal inertia and thus, the output is more volatile compared to large scale CSP plants. In this paper, the production of a solar dish-Stirling plant connected to a battery bank forming a Hybrid plant is studied, in order to determine up to what extent the production stabilization can be achieved. A modelling approach of the electricity output of a solar dish system integrated to a lithium-ion battery, is developed. A methodology based on the minimization of the mean square error between the actual and the proposed stabilized production is presented, in order to optimally size the battery bank. Results from the application of the Hybrid plant for typical days of various seasons prove the output capability of such a configuration and the guaranteed power amount of the relevant plant, along with the addition of volatility decrease.