Population-Dynamics-Assisted Coalitional Model Predictive Control for Parabolic-Trough Solar Plants

This paper proposes a coalitional model predictive control method for temperature regulation in parabolic-trough solar fields. The global optimization problem is divided into a set of local subproblems that will be solved in parallel by a set of coalitions. However, these local (smaller) problems remain coupled by a common global resource constraint. In this regard, we present a population-dynamics-assisted resource allocation approach to fully decouple the local optimization problems. By doing this, each coalition can address its corresponding optimization problem without relying on the solutions of the other coalitions. To illustrate the proposed methodology, we provide simulation results for a 100-loop parabolic-trough solar collector field.