Siemens, Sun to Market develop training simulator for Concentrating Solar Thermal Power plants

The companies states that the objective of the full-scope integrated control room simulator is to provide a "virtual plant" for engineering tests, commissioning and assessment for CSP plant operators.

“Combining all features from solar field to grid in a simulator will allow power plant owners to run their CSP plants on minimum risk and maximum performance from day one and during the entire operational life," said Siemens Energy CEO of Instrumentation, Controls & Electrical Karlheinz Springer.

"Because it ensures that the personnel is trained in a most professional way before startup to operate the high-value equipment smoothly.”

Simulator provides full-scale replica of control system. Siemens notes that concentrated solar energy plants require highly qualified staff to operate plants reliably and efficiently under rapidly changing weather conditions.

The simulator will combine Siemens’ SPPA-S3000 emulator with Sun to Market process models. The company states that this simulator provides a functional full-scale replica of a control system used in a concentrated solar energy plant based on the original engineering data of the power plant.

The system offers training for plant startup and shutdown, monitoring and control during normal as well as emergency situations, and for safety procedures.

www.siemens.com/