Application of a nonlinear predictive controller to a solar power plant

This paper presents the application of a nonlinear controller, using a predictive control strategy, to the distributed collector field of a solar power plant at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria (Spain). The design procedure of the controller, developed at Ruhr-University, Bochum, uses the mathematical input-output model of the plant to find a controller output; an evident search strategy is used to minimize the cost function for a given prediction horizon. It is, in principle, an indirect adaptive controller, since the model it uses could be changing at every sampling instant. However, the nonlinear model of the plant, adopted for the application of the nonlinear controller, was assumed to be one of “time-invariant” nature, developed by INESC, Lisbon