sBSc – scaled BIG SOLAR control

The goal of the project „sBSc – scaled BIG SOLAR control“ is the development of control strategies and software for a cost-efficient operation of large-scale solar thermal plants with seasonal pit storage and absorption heat pump for urban district heating support.

The system layout and the used components of the project “sBSc” are based on the project proposal of “BIG Solar Graz”. Within this project a large-scale solar thermal system, a seasonal pit storage, an absorption heat pump and an auxiliary heating system are planned. The system layout is highly innovative and worldwide unique in the planned size.

The control of such solar systems is the major challenge for a cost-effective operation. It is necessary to minimize the risk of outage and malfunction and to optimize the control strategy for energy provision in an economically and technically reasonable way. The integration of an absorption heat pump and the large number of interconnections with other system components represent a potential source of uncertainty. To minimize the implementation risks for “BIG Solar” projects and to guarantee an optimum operation it is essential to analyse appropriate control technologies beforehand.

For this reason a test facility with a small-scale setup with the main components and the hydraulic layout of “BIG Solar Graz” will be installed and simulated. A hardware-in-the-loop simulation is used to operate the absorption heat pump and to simulate the other main components as heat storage, solar collector and the auxiliary heating. The control strategy of the test facility will be implemented and optimized regarding to the foreseen control tasks of “BIG Solar Graz”. The optimized control strategies, the control software and the gained knowledge can be applied for “BIG Solar Graz” and other similar projects.