solar: A solar thermal power plant simulator for blackbox optimization benchmarking

TL;DR

This paper presents 'solar', a comprehensive set of ten diverse, realistic blackbox optimization problem instances based on a detailed solar thermal power plant simulation, designed for benchmarking optimization algorithms.

Contribution

Introduces a new open-source benchmarking suite with diverse, realistic solar plant models, including various variable types, constraints, and stochastic elements, for evaluating blackbox optimization methods.

Findings

Includes ten diverse problem instances with different complexities.

Provides a reproducible, open-source tool for benchmarking.

Models various subsystems of a solar power plant.

Abstract

This work introduces solar, a collection of ten optimization problem instances for benchmarking blackbox optimization solvers. The instances present different design aspects of a concentrated solar power plant simulated by blackbox numerical models. The type of variables (discrete or continuous), dimensionality, and number and types of constraints (including hidden constraints) differ across instances. Some are deterministic, others are stochastic with possibilities to execute several replications to control stochasticity. Most instances offer variable fidelity surrogates, two are biobjective and one is unconstrained. The solar plant model takes into account various subsystems: a heliostats field, a central cavity receiver (the receiver), a molten salt thermal energy storage, a steam generator and an idealized power block. Several numerical methods are implemented throughout the solar code and most of the executions are time-consuming. Great care was applied to guarantee reproducibility across platforms. The solar tool encompasses most of the characteristics that can be found in industrial and real-life blackbox optimization problems, all in an open-source and stand-alone code.