The invention discloses a structure and operation parameter optimization method for a porous medium solar heat absorber applied to the technical field of solar photo-thermal conversion. A heat transfer characteristic of the porous medium solar heat absorber is calculated by utilizing a thermal non-equilibrium model, and structure parameters and operation parameters of the heat absorber are optimized by a coupling genetic algorithm so as to obtain a parameter combination which enables performance of the heat absorber to be more excellent. According to the structure and operation parameter optimization method for the porous medium solar heat absorber, which is disclosed by the invention, each link of heat absorption and heat exchange of the heat absorber is comprehensively considered, automatic screening of the parameters is implemented by utilizing an intelligent optimization algorithm, and a function of simultaneously optimizing multiple parameters is achieved. The structure and operation parameter optimization method for the porous medium solar heat absorber has high efficiency, accuracy and universality; design labor and time cost can be greatly saved; optimization accuracy is improved; and meanwhile, the structure and operation parameter optimization method can be used for designing porous medium heat absorbers with different optimization parameters, different optimization target functions and different geometric structures.