By manipulating the shape of heliostats in real time, the optical efficiency of solar fields for tower CSP can be significantly increased, according to a paper presented at the New Mexico SolarPACES Conference: Heliostat with Automatic Shape Adjustment for High Concentration Throughout the Day, presented
Press Release: Cosin wins 200 MW bid for solar field and MSR system On September 7, we received the “Notification of Award” from CGN China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd., confirming that Cosin Solar has won the contract for Solar Field and MSR Systems equipment
Abstract: In a concentrated solar power (CSP) tower plant, it is essential to understand the performance of the subsystem formed by the heliostat field and the receiver, operated with an optimal aiming strategy that guarantees the safety and lifetime of the receiver while maximising performance.
Abstract: As an important design load for heliostat, wind load crucially affects the safety and concentrating performance. Herein, an evaluation method is proposed to study the impacts of wind loads on concentrating efficiency loss of the heliostat with multiple sub-mirrors. In particular, the computation method
Abstract: The technological advancements achieved in the field of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have positioned this technology as a key enabling technology for revolutionizing the entire energy industry by facilitating diverse operations and tasks that would otherwise be either impossible to carry out, costly, labour
Abstract: Wind-induced tracking deviations of heliostats can be analyzed through numerical simulations or experimental studies on a full-scale heliostat. However, these methods are relatively costly and often, simpler estimations are necessary and sufficient. One simpler approach is to use an analytical model that describes the wind-induced tracking
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratories, co-leads of the Heliostat Consortium, announced seven awardees from a request for proposals (RFP) aimed at achieving DOE’s goals for heliostat cost reduction, sustained multifaceted innovation, and improved solar field performance. Heliostats
Tower CSP needs talented engineers in optics, robotics and AI to advance heliostat technology and cut costs.
Heliostat cost reduction is necessary to lower the cost of tower CSP. As many as 10,000 heliostats comprise the solar field.
Much of the research covered at SolarPACES in concentrated solar power (CSP) is advanced by international post-docs and professors, but as the need for climate solutions advances, it is drawing the attention of younger researchers with STEM backgrounds in mathematics, physics and chemistry. During her
High wind loads increase structural design costs of concentrating solar power (CSP) collector structures, such as heliostats and parabolic troughs. In a new two-year project, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will work with the Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Solar
Have advances in heliostat mirror solar fields enabled record low prices in Morocco and Dubai and low bids like for Likana in Chile?
To expand internationally with its high temperature solar fuels, Synhelion now acquires high temperature solar field experts Heliokon
Advances in sky camera systems are set to drive up CSP efficiency in the coming years. In Europe, tests of WobaS All Sky Imager (ASI) technology at the 50 MW La Africana parabolic trough plant in Spain increased plant revenue by 2% over a two
The innovative pentagonal Stellio heliostat has gone from lab to commercial deployment in China’s Hami CSP project in record time
Researchers have developed a prototype for calibrating an entire solar field in a single night, shaving months off the current calibration system for large size Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) tower plants. In tower CSP, an encircling solar field of thousands of heliostats (specialized mirrors) must
In solar thermal energy, all concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies use solar thermal energy from sunlight to make power. A solar field of mirrors concentrates the sun’s energy onto a receiver that traps the heat and stores it in thermal energy storage till needed to
A group of experts in the field of optical mirror reflectance characterization has been working together as members of Task III to create a document of an official SolarPACES reflectance measurement guideline. Title of guidelines “PARAMETERS AND METHOD TO EVALUATE THE REFLECTANCE PROPERTIES OF REFLECTOR
Full paper (pdf): Standardizing and Benchmarking of Model-Derived DNI-Products – Phase 1 Authors: Richard Meyer, Chris Gueymard, Pierre Ineichen Summary: Modeled direct normal irradiance (DNI) can be either derived from satellite data or from numerical weather models. Such modeled datasets are available at continental scale and provide
Task Representative: Dr. Manuel Silva, University of Seville, Spain Nature of Work and Objectives “Solar Resource for High Penetration and Large Scale Applications” is a joint IEA Task under the IEA PVPS (Photovoltaic Power Systems) Implementing Agreement in collaboration with SolarPACES. The Task is a
