Robust day-ahead self-scheduling of concentrating solar power plants under correlated uncertainty

Generation companies operating Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants face significant challenges in electricity market participation due to correlated uncertainties in self-scheduling, arising mainly from hourly market price fluctuations and variability in thermal energy production. Such uncertainties can lead to suboptimal scheduling and operational inefficiencies. This paper integrates robust optimization techniques into day-ahead self-scheduling of a CSP plant equipped with a molten salt thermal energy storage system. To address correlated uncertainty in market prices and prevent overly conservative solutions, we use tailored robust methods that exploit moment information of uncertain coefficient distributions. Comparative analyses reveal that the proposed approach outperforms traditional CSP self-scheduling method based on conventional polyhedral uncertainty set, leading to improved operational efficiency and profit maximization. Thus, the proposed approach allows decision makers to optimize scheduling and increase profits in volatile markets.