CSP dispatch optimization for merchant plant

[cpaulgilman]

Describe the bug

Running a CSP model with dispatch optimization with the merchant plant financial model causes exec fail(tcsmolten_salt): mp_energy_market_revenue input has 1 rows but there are 8760 number of timesteps error.

To Reproduce

1. Create a Power Tower / Merchant Plant case.
2. On the System Control page, check Enable dispatch optimization.
3. On Revenue page, note default energy market revenue options.
4. Click Simulate.

Expected behavior

CSP dispatch optimization should work with Merchant Plant financial model.

Operating System and Version

• OS: Windows
• Version: SAM 2025.4.16 r1

Additional context

It appears that our translation between the merchant plant configuration and dispatch optimization does not support the “fixed cleared capacity option” because the cmod pulls price data from “mp_energy_market_revenue” not “mp_energy_market_revenue_single”. Therefore, it is expecting two columns of data [clear capacity, price].

A potential workaround is to use the “Time series cleared capacity and price” option, but this method produces errors when the power generation is below the cleared capacity, which is cumberson. So, without knowing the generation profile a priori, this becomes cumbersome.