Multi-tower Heliostat Field Optimization by Means of Adiabatic Quantum Computer

In this work, the possible use of quantum annealers for the optimization of multi-tower systems is studied. These systems are constituted by multiple solar towers and a set of mirrors (heliostats) reflecting the incident sun radiation toward a receiver on top of a tower of choice. The optimization consists in choosing on which tower each of the heliostats should focus the reflected radiation in order to optimize the global collected energy and, therefore, is inherently discrete. In this work, we formulated it in Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) form and solved it with the use of quantum annealers. Results are shown for systems ranging from 2 to 9 towers and from tenths to thousands of heliostats. It is demonstrated that quantum annealers, used in hybrid mode, are effective in finding good solutions. The results are compared with the ones obtained with classical annealers showing comparable performances.