SUN-DT at 5th Electrical Grids Congress
On 4 November 2026, the SUN-DT project was presented at the poster exhibition of the 5th edition of the Electrical Grids Congress (V Congreso de Redes Eléctricas) in Madrid, Spain by Juan Diego Rios-Peñaloza, researcher at project partner IMDEA Energy.
The congress, held on 3-4 November 2026 at ETSII (Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales) of UPM (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), was organised by ITE (Instituto Tecnológico de la Energía) with the support of FutuRed (Plataforma tecnológica española de redes eléctricas). The event brought together researchers, industry representatives and energy stakeholders to exchange knowledge and innovations in smart grids, flexibility, digitalisation and renewable energy integration.
The poster, entitled “Dispatch Optimization for Tower CSP Plants for the Provision of Balancing Services: The SUN-DT Project and the D-OPT Tool” (English translation of the original title in Spanish), presented research on D-OPT, one of the four innovative digital tools being developed within SUN-DT to enhance the performance, flexibility and economic competitiveness of CSP tower plants.
More specifically, D-OPT is an energy management tool designed to optimise CSP plant dispatch based on solar production forecasts, electricity market price predictions and plant operating constraints. Key takeaways from this poster presentation include:
- Electricity and balancing markets: D-OPT enables the optimisation of CSP plant participation in both the day-ahead electricity market and the secondary reserve market, supporting the provision of grid balancing services.
- CSP plant modelling: The tool integrates three core blocks, namely the solar field, thermal energy storage, and the power block, optimise plant operation and economic performance based on solar production and electricity price forecasts.
- Improved economic performance: The results indicate that participation in the secondary reserve market can increase the modelled operating margin by 22.8% in the winter scenario and 2.4% in the summer scenario, highlighting the potential economic value of balancing services, particularly during periods of lower solar production.
The poster was co-authored by Juan Diego Rios-Peñaloza, Rui Chen, Milan Prodanović, and José González-Aguilar, all from IMDEA Energy.
Download the poster here.