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October 11, 2025Open Access

Maintenance Optimization of Parabolic Trough Power Plants Through a Lifetime Simulation Model Validated With Five-Years of Operational Data

Key Points

An optimized maintenance plan increased solar gain by 0.46%, while reducing water usage and fuel consumption significantly.
A mean absolute error of 2.53% between simulation and plant data highlights the model's accuracy over five years.
The study utilizes operational data from a 50 MWel parabolic trough power plant in Spain to validate its simulation model.
Improvements in the mirrors' cleaning schedule directly impact the plant’s overall efficiency and resource consumption.

Abstract

Modelling and Simulation of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants is a crucial requirement for future growth and improvement of the technology. In this paper, the development of a functional and reliable model of a Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) power plant is presented and validated with existing five-year operational data of a 50 MWel plant equipped with seven hours full load thermal storage, located in Spain. A mean absolute error of 2.53% between the simulation and plant data was found when considering net energy generated over the five-year period. Subsequently, an optimized maintenance plan is proposed, and the plant behavior is forecasted. The new maintenance strategy is developed to optimize the mirrors current cleaning schedule, thereby mitigating significant detrimental soiling effects on the optical efficiency while reducing water and fuel consumption. Results show an increase in solar gain by 0.46% and reductions in water usage and fuel consumption by 22.1% and 22.3%, respectively.

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