Hi Matthew,
Sorry for the slow response. My colleague in the NREL CSP program tried to respond but had trouble getting the website to work. Here's what he wrote:
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The generic solar system model is essentially a steady-state model in that it solves the energy balance from time-step to time-step without considering the temperature and enthalpy of the system in a previous state. The one exception is in the power cycle model, where we do have a startup energy requirement. In this case, the startup energy is just a running tally so that the power block is not allowed to generate power until the startup quota has been met. Because this is a simple energy balance approach, you can safely extend the power block startup requirement to account for field startup.
the solar field without operating the power block. For example, when the field operates and charges thermal storage that will be used later by the power block. In the hourly results, you will see that the field is providing energy to thermal storage when in fact it would be just starting up, but this mismatch is eventually accounted for when the power block starts up. On balance, the total power production is correct, but the more detailed results will be misleading.
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As for searching the forum, you are correct to note that the search box searches all content on the website. It is possible to refine the search results to show only content in the support forum. When you see the results of a search (from the search box at the top right of the page), click the Content tab, and then check Support Question under "Only of the type(s)." I will work with the website administrator to see if we can simplify this process.
Best regards,
Paul.
