I have to simulate a small scale Concentrated solar thermal system for electricity, cooling and sanitary hot water needs for domestic sector in Greece. Is SAM the appropriate tool for this?
SAM's concentrating solar power (CSP) models have several limitations that make the model unsuitable for the application you describe. The CSP models are designed for systems that deliver heat via steam or a heat transfer fluid to a conventional Rankine cycle power block for electricity generation. The model equations and equations work well for the temperatures and other conditions of a large-scale power generating system. They have not been tested for the conditions you would find in a smaller system that supplies heat for a thermal application.
Because SAM reports the hourly values of temperatures at the solar field outlet, you could use SAM to calculate those temperatures, and then model the rest of the applicaiton outside of SAM. There are several discussions on that use of SAM that you can find by searching this forum for terms like "process heat," "thermal output," and "desalination." However, we haven't tested SAM for that application.
SAM's solar water heating model is designed to model domestic and commercial building water heating applications, but does not model concentrating collectors.
Best regards,
Paul.
