Solar tower on an uneven terrain: methodology and case study

We develop a tool to estimate the potentiality of heliostat-field based central solar tower technology in an uneven terrain. SolarPILOT is a recently developed tool to design such heliostat field layout. Even though, individual heliostat elevation, where available, can be incorporated in obtaining the shading and blocking from immediate neighbours, the layout optimization in SolarPILOT assumes a flat field. The tool presented in this work supplements this shortcoming of SolarPILOT and extends its range of applicability in heliostat field design particularly on a hilly terrain. The developed tool is applied to two case-studies on real terrains, at real locations. By computing the shading and blocking profile, the annual up-time for individual heliostat is estimated. For the chosen terrains, 10%–30% heliostats remain ineffective more than 50% of the time due to shading or blocking, hence, can be eliminated to minimize cost. If such ineffective heliostats are removed from the installation on an uneven terrain, a significant cost-reduction is achieved at the expense of low reduction in heat collection potential of the field, lowering the LCOE by higher than a factor of two. The current study is an attempt towards development of a universal design-tool for heliostat fields.