The dynamic simulator design and development of a direct steam generation parabolic-trough solar thermal power plant is detailed in this paper. The dynamic simulator is not only the equation-based object-oriented model but also includes features to facilitate the simulation process. A whole simulator scheme has been developed for that purpose. This simulator scheme considers the issues of fetching and converting sensors data to model inputs and obtaining suitable initial values for the boundary condition problem in the numerical integration. The calibration and validation processes have been tackled, using Matlab as the primary tool. However, several tools were studied and tested. A multi-objective genetic algorithm approach has been chosen for calibrating the dynamic model. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.