Hello,
The "non-solar field land area" and "solar field land area multiplier" for the CSP models are inputs that allow you to estimate the land area required for the project as a multiple of the solar field's total reflective area plus a fixed area for other parts of the power system. SAM uses the resulting to total land area value to calculate the land-related costs that you specify in $/acre on the System Costs page. These land area inputs do not affect the system's design (plant capacity, field reflective area, etc.) at all -- they are really inputs to SAM's financial model to help you account for costs that scale with project land area.
If a design constraint for your project is land area, you should start by estimating reasonable values for the land area multiplier and non-solar land area inputs, and then estimate a nameplate capacity (on the Power Cycle page), and optimize the solar field and tower height for that nameplate capacity (see
Help - Solar Field
for the physical trough model, or
Help - Heliostat Field
for the power tower model). Then, compare the resulting total land area with your design constraint, and repeat the process with a different nameplate capacity if the area is too large or small.
If you are new to SAM or modeling tower systems, you may want to explore the sample file
Power Tower Field and Storage Optimization with SamUL, which you can find on SAM's
File menu, under
Open sample file.
Best regards,
Paul.
