The NSPOC (heliostat field and receiver optimization code) was developed in 2008 taking the former ASPOC as basis.
Since then the program has been even improved to respond to the challenging needs of different industrial companies active in the central receiver solar plant sector. NSPOC- registered by Nevada Software- can provide not only better optimized field and receiver subsystems -responding to the more and more sophisticated customer requirements- but also accurate hourly receiver output calculations for a given TMY at any specific location. The influence of wind effect on the performance and operational limits as well as start up and shut down constraints can be taken into consideration as well.
NSPOC can be combined with CAVISOL to provide radiation fluxes at any point in the receiver and at any time of the year. This could be an important feedback for heliostat field layout design in order to complying with the allowable receiver flux into each one of the receiver panels with the minimum need of heliostat dumping.
