SAM 2018.11.11

Good day,
 I would like to have a help about the difference between the definitions concerning the fields included in CSP TOWER (SALT),  Heliostat Field window, Land Area session. In this session we have:

non solar field land area
base land area
total land area
total heliostat reflective area

I understand "total heliostat reflective area" considers the sum of the  mirrors reflective area.
Can I say that the solar field area is equal to "base land area"?
Which one of those are more likely to correspond to "solar field area"

We are using base land area as solar field area, converting acres to  square meters, but it seems too big, compared to the data at the ecoinvent database (in orther to make life cycle calculations). We "have" a plant of 100 MW and Ecoinvent has a 20 MW solar tower plant, but using "base land area" the solar field is more than 50 times the solar field of ecoinvent database. Can it be right?

I realize this question is more than strictly a SAM question. Sorry about that.

Thank you for yor help.

Denise Matos.

Hi Denise,

In SAM, the "base land area" is defined as follows (from SAM's Help system):



The total land area for $/acre cost calculations is:

Total Land Area (acres) = Base Land Area (acres) + Non-solar Field Land Area (acres) * Solar Field Land Area Multiplier

Best regards,
Paul.