Operation strategy of a hybrid solar and biomass power plant in the electricity markets

Abstract

With the potential of low levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and high dispatchability, the hybrid solar and biomass power (HSBP) plant will become an increasingly attractive alternative of fossil energy in the future. However, the combination of biomass fuels, uncertain solar energy and thermal energy storage (TES) system makes energy flow in HSBP plant more intricate. This problem poses a significant challenge to HSBP plant operation in the electricity markets especially with uncertain market prices. In this paper, the linear operation model of HSBP plant is developed to describe the intricate energy flow and technical constraints. In order to maximize the revenues of HSBP plant in electricity markets, an optimal operation strategy is proposed by taking into account the daily variation of market prices. The uncertainties of solar irradiation and market prices are modeled with stochastic programming approach, i.e. a set of scenarios. The large number of scenarios is reduced to relieve the computational burden of mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem. In addition, the conditional value at risk (CVaR) is adopted to consider the risk hedge. The validity of the proposed model is demonstrated by case study results.