Gemasolar power tower model and simulations

Hello Paul
I tried to find my answers in the forum, but I did not get to, so I will really appreciate if you guide me.
Here I am talking about Gemasolar Tower CSP plant.
1- I have read the NREL report about Gemasolar many times (SAM case study: Gemasolar), but it is hard for me to understand an important point! As a matter of fact, based on the report, I tried to reproduce the model by my own. When it comes to Optimization Wizard, it has mentioned that the number of heliostats have adjusted to 2650. This number is supposed to be given by optimization wizard, and I tried different inputs in optimization wizard to reach this number (as you suggested in other discussions in the forum), but it never happened! In fact, I never got the reported values by the optimization wizard, and I just entered following parameters as reported: distribution and number of heliostats, receiver height, and receiver diameter. Are the reported values have been obtained by the optimization wizard? If yes, can you please provide us with input values for the optimization wizard?
2- I read some discussions that you provided a link to a guideline for wizard optimization, but the link is not working anymore, and I could not find that report on the NREL website as well. Could you please upload that file again? I need more information about how to use an optimization wizard, and I need to know what correct input ranges are for each optional design.
3- My goal is to study the feasibility of the Gemasolar plant in different Australian locations. Apart from location and ambient temperature at design, what input parameters should I change in the main validated model? Do parameters such as heliostat size, receiver size and tower size, solar multiple and hours of storage need to be optimized for every location?
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Saeed

Dear Saeed,

1. The report mentions that the analysts adjusted the results of the optimization wizard so that the number of heliostats would equal the number in the real system. They changed the number of heliostats by typing numbers in the table to match the table in the "SAM Inputs" section of the report. That means that the optimization wizard calculated a different number and distribution of heliostats than was installed in the real system.

2. I'm not sure what link you saw. If you can tell me where the broken link is, I will try to fix it. You can find instructions for running the optimization wizard in SAM's help system (you can also find it by clicking the wizard's Help button).

3. You'll have to decide which parameters you think are appropriate to change for your analysis. I would expect the costs in Australia to be different. This AUSTELA website may be helpful for you as you make those decisions:  www.austela.org.au/projects .

Best regards,
Paul.

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your response. I could not find the broken link as well. Anyway, your alternate link was helpful enough for me.

Best Regards,

Saeed