Hi again,
Here are a couple of comments to follow up on my response above:
SolarPILOT/CoPylot can be used to get hourly receiver heat production based on sun position and available DNI resource. To do that, you would have to step through the weather file, simulate the solar field performance, and gather the results. That requires adjusting the inputs under “Sun position” in SolarPILOT's “Performance Simulation” for each hour of the solar day. You could do this in Python with CoPylot and a For loop.
You might also be interested in some of NREL's recent work in HOPP (Hybrid Optimization Performance Platform). It now includes CSP (tower and trough) technologies in addition to the original PV, wind, and battery technologies. HOPP optimizes sizing and dispatch of CSP, PV, and battery technologies relative to each other. The latest work on HOPP is on this GitHub branch:
github.com/NREL/HOPP/tree/WB_CSP_dispatch_design
and should be merged in to the main branch of HOPP in the coming months. (Some aspects of HOPP may also be integrated into the SAM desktop application in future versions.)
Best regards,
Paul.