(488h) Model Predictive Control of Solar Thermal System with Borehole Seasonal Storage

This work addresses the model predictive controller design for a complex solar boreal-thermal storage system. A solar thermal power plant is used for heating dis- trict houses with bore- hole seasonal energy storage. The modelling of the overall system is inspired by the Drake Landing Solar Community in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada [1]. In this work, the discrete model of the integrated energy system is ob- tained by using energy preserving Cayley-Tustin discretization [2]. As the energy output from the solar thermal plant with borehole seasonal storage varies, the control system maintains the system achieving a desired thermal comfort level and energy savings. The model predictive control is designed by utilizing standard constrained optimization obtained control law which leads to quadratic regulator design account- ing for input or/and state/output constraints [3]. Finally, the controller performance is assessed by a numerical simulation with consideration of various possible scenarios. In addition, the proposed model development and constrained optimization regula- tion successful without approximations can account for the long range behaviour and variability in environmental and/or economic conditions associated with the overall operational costs of entire solar thermal community.