Solar Multiple and Storage Hours

We were expecting solar multiple to change with number of storage hours, but this was not the case. we want to know the effect of storage hours on the size of the solar field at the LCOH.

Dear Mahdi,

Because you mention LCOH, I assume your question is about one of SAM's industrial process heat models. When you change the storage capacity, you must change the solar multiple and other parameters accordingly. SAM does not automatically change the value of inputs.

Best regards,
Paul.

I have run a parametric study with Solar multiple variation from 1-5 and storage hours form 3-12, with the process heat LCOH calculator. The LCOE decreases with increasing Solar Multiple, and i'm wondering how this target solar multiple is defined in this case. Also why is LCOH not included in the parametric outputs options ?

Dear Shevy,

When you run a parametric simulation on the target solar multiple, be sure to show the "Annual net thermal energy production w/ avail derate" output variable in the parametric results to confirm that the field size is actually increasing. In some cases, depending on the loop configuration, the actual solar multiple may be different from the target.

In my tests, for a 6 hours of storage capacity and default cost and financial assumptions, the LCOH increases with solar multiple.

The label for the LCOH variable appears as LCOE in those results because it is the same variable for other models that use the "LCOE" nomenclature.

Best regard,
Paul.