The work is devoted to modeling the growth of optically dense microalgae cultures in natural light. The basic model is based on the idea of the two-stage photoautotrophic growth of microalgae. It is shown that the increase in the intensity of sunlight in the first half of the day can be described by a linear equation. Analytical equations for the growth of biomass of microalgae and its macromolecular components are obtained. As the initial conditions, it is assumed that at the time of sunrise, the concentration of reserve biomass compounds is zero. The simulation results show that after sunrise, the growth of the microalgae culture is due only to an increase in the reserve part of the biomass, while the structural part practically does not change over six hours. Changes in the ratio of the reserve and structural parts of the biomass indicate a change in the biochemical composition of cells.
