Estimating the Flexibility Benefit of Concentrating Solar Plants in Electricity Markets

When equipped with thermal energy storage (TES), concentrating solar power (CSP) plants can provide both energy benefit and flexibility benefit for power systems. It is capable of shifting generation to periods with insufficient solar irradiation, providing ancillary services, and supplying firm capacity at peak load periods. In this paper, we focus on the operation behavior of CSP when simultaneously participating in three types of electricity market-energy market, ancillary service (AS) market, and capacity market. The results of case study show the quantified flexibility benefit of CSP in electricity markets. The optimal configuration of CSP in terms of TES and solar multiple (SM) is also analyzed.