Advantages of solar power satellites for base load electrical supply compared to ground solar power

A number of quantitative and qualitative arguments are presented which show that due to physical space limitations on the ground, limited access to sunlight, high storage requirements, a high system mass to collected energy ratio, and thus high cost, ground solar power (both central and decentralized) alone cannot realistically provide all of the future non-carbon base load electricity supply our growing civilization needs. It is, however, a good candidate for a significant portion of our daytime peak load needs. I then cover arguments supporting space solar power as an alternative for base load production. I also examine a popular misconception about the importation of space solar energy to the Earth's surface. I conclude that a mix of space solar (I will focus on power satellites), ground solar and other energy sources is needed.     

Net energy analysis of space power satellites

A net energy analysis (NEA) of the Solar Power Satellite System is performed. Two options are compared using either silicon (Si) or gallium-aluminum-arsenide (Ga-Al-As) photovoltaic cells. The analysis is based on the DOE/NASA reference system. Maintenance and material energy costs are considered and are shown to be valid. Results show a net energy ratio (electrical output vs primary thermal input) of the order of 2–5 for the silicon cell option and 14–18 for the gallium-aluminum-arsenide option.     

Quantifying PV power Output Variability

This paper presents a novel approach to rigorously quantify power Output Variability from a fleet of photovoltaic (PV) systems, ranging from a single central station to a set of distributed PV systems. The approach demonstrates that the relative power Output Variability for a fleet of identical PV systems (same size, orientation, and spacing) can be quantified by identifying the number of PV systems and their Dispersion Factor. The Dispersion Factor is a new variable that captures the relationship between PV Fleet configuration, Cloud Transit Speed, and the Time Interval over which variability is evaluated. Results indicate that Relative Output Variability: (1) equals the inverse of the square root of the number of systems for fully dispersed PV systems; and (2) could be further minimized for optimally-spaced PV systems.     

太阳能热发电系列文章(1)聚光类太阳能热发电概述

能源短缺、资源枯竭、环境污染等问题已严重影响人们的生活和制约社会的发展,各国竞相开展水能、风能、地热能、生物质能、潮汐能、太阳能等清洁和可再生能源的应用研究。美国、德国、以色列、澳大利亚及日本等国家在太阳能应用技术研究方面起步较早,也是当今太     

Optimum power from a solar thermal power plant using solar concentrators

In this paper, the optimum temperature of operation of a solar concentrator and thus the maximum power obtained from a solar thermal power plant has been calculated. Results are plotted graphically and discussed.     

Evaluation of solar aided thermal power generation with various power plants

Solar aided power generation (SAPG) is an efficient way to make use of low or medium temperature solar heat for power generation purposes. The so‐called SAPG is actually ‘piggy back’ solar energy on the conventional fuel fired power plant. Therefore, its solar‐to‐electricity efficiency depends on the power plant it is associated with. In the paper, the developed SAPG model has been used to study the energy and economic benefits of the SAPG with 200 and 300 MW typical, 600 MW subcritical, 600 MW supercritical, and 600 and 1000 MW ultra‐supercritical fuel power units separately. The solar heat in the temperature range from 260 to 90°C is integrated with above‐mentioned power units to replace the extraction steam (to preheat the feedwater) in power boosting and fuel‐saving operating modes. The results indicate that the benefits of SAPG are different for different steam extracted positions and different power plants. Generally, the larger the power plant, the higher the solar benefit if the same level solar is integrated. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dual Loop line-focusing solar power plants with supercritical Brayton power cycles

This study is focused on proposing the combination of a Dual Loop solar field, with Dowtherm A and the Solar Salt as heat transfer fluids in parabolic or linear Fresnel solar collectors, coupled to supercritical Carbon Dioxide (s-CO₂) Brayton power cycle. The Dual-Loop justification relies on gaining the synergies provided by the different heat transfer fluids properties. The oils advantages are related with the operating experience accumulated in numerous solar power plants deployed around the World, assuring the commercial equipment availability. Also the pipes metal corrosion with oil is much lower than with molten salt. The pipes material cost saving is significant with the oil alternative. The thermal oil main constraint is imposed by the maximum operating temperature (around 400 °C) for avoiding chemical decomposition and degradation, stablishing the plant threshold efficiency 37% due to Carnot principle. On the other hand the Solar Salt mixture (60%NaNO₃40%KNO₃) maximum operating temperature goes up to 550 °C, but the freezing point is stablished around 220 °C requiring pipes and equipment electrical heating for avoiding salts solidification at low temperature. Regarding the balance of plant, the s-CO₂ power cycle is the most promising alternative to the actual Rankine power cycle for increasing the plant energy efficiency, reducing the solar collector aperture area and minimizing the equipment dimensions and civil work. Three Brayton cycles configurations with reheating were assessed integrated with the line-focusing Dual-Loop solar field: the simple Brayton cycle (SB), the Recompression cycle (RC), the Partial Cooling with Recompression cycle (PCRC), and the Recompression with Main Compression Intercooling (RCMCI). The power cycle operating thermodynamic parameters (split flow, reheating pressure, mass flow and pressure ratio) were optimized with unconstrained multivariable algorithms: SUBPLEX, UOBYQA and NEWUOA. The main conclusion deducted is the significant efficiency improvement when adopting the s-CO₂ Brayton cycle in comparison with the Rankine legacy solution. The Dual-Loop solar field integrated with a Rankine cycle provides a gross efficiency around 41.8%, but when coupling to s-CO₂ Brayton RC or RCMCI the plant efficiency goes up to ≈50%. It was also demonstrated the beneficial effect of increasing the total heat exchangers (recuperators) conductance (UA) for optimizing the Brayton cycles efficiency and minimizing the solar field aperture area for a fixed power output, only limited by the minimum pinch point temperature in heat exchangers.     

槽式太阳能聚光集热技术

详细讨论了槽式太阳能聚光集热技术的最新进展,对不同聚光集热器支撑机构进行了对比分析.结果表明,EUROTROUGH聚光器的支撑机构性能最优.此外,还对抛物面聚光镜和主要的槽式太阳能集热管技术进行了讨论分析.     

Probabilistic modelling of hybrid solar/wind power system with solar tracking system

This paper presents a probabilistic model applied to a hybrid solar-wind power system (HSWPS), which is equipped with either a one-axis or a two-axis solar tracking system.Within the framework of a case study, the potential of the developed probabilistic approach is presented, and the effect of the solar tracking systems on the annual energy gain is discussed.Specifically, the impact of a tracking system on the probability density function (PDF) of the power produced by a photovoltaic system (PVS) is evaluated through the first four moments (mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis) of a PDF.Finally, to estimate the impact of a tracking system on HSWPS energy performance, a reliability analysis is performed using the energy index of reliability (EIR), which is directly related to energy expected not supplied (EENS), given different annual load scenarios.     

Evaluation of the impact of solar spectrum and temperature variations on output power of silicon-based photovoltaic modules

Various types of silicon-based photovoltaic modules were installed at the same outdoor exposure site in Japan. The output parameters of the modules were measured and also incident irradiance, incident spectrum, and module temperature were recorded at the same time. A statistical analysis method has been proposed to separate the influences of spectrum variations and module temperature variations on the output performance of the modules. Moreover, with this method, the performance of polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, and three-stacked amorphous silicon photovoltaic modules were analyzed.     

Output power control for large wind power penetration in small power system

Nowadays, wind turbine generator (WTG) is increasingly required to provide control capabilities regarding output power. Under this scenario, this paper proposes an output power control of WTG using pitch angle control connected to small power systems. By means of the proposed method, output power control of WTG considering states of power system becomes possible, and in general both conflicting objectives of output power leveling and acquisition power increase are achieved. In this control approach, WTG is given output power command by fuzzy reasoning which has three inputs for average wind speed, variance of wind speed, and absolute average of frequency deviation. Since fuzzy reasoning is used, it is possible to define output power command corresponding to wind speed condition and changing capacity of power system momentarily. Moreover, high performance pitch angle control based on output power command is achieved by generalized predictive control (GPC). The simulation results by using actual detailed model for wind power system show the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

太阳能光伏发电最大功率跟踪控制器的研究

针对目前太阳能发电系统效率低、铅酸蓄电池使用寿命短等问题,利用微控制器MC9S08QG8设计一种太阳能控制器。该控制器采用升降压式DC/DC转换电路、利用电压扰动法实现最大功率点跟踪,使太阳能电池始终保持最大功率输出;控制器还能实时测量蓄电池的端电压,对蓄电池进行充放电保护。该控制器软硬件结合、可靠性高,提高了太阳能发电系统的效率,延长了蓄电池的使用寿命。     

Efficiency of solar heat power plants with selective receivers

It is shown that a selective receiver makes it possible to increase greatly the efficiency of solar power plants under a small concentration of solar radiation and that under high concentration there is a gain, since it is possible to decrease the concentration in comparison with a “black” receiver.     

太阳能热发电系列文章(5)塔式太阳能热发电的定日镜

定日镜是一种由镜面(反射镜)、镜架(支撑结构)、跟踪传动机构及其控制系统等组成的聚光装置,用于跟踪接收并聚集反射太阳光线进入位于接收塔顶部的集热器内,是塔式太阳能热发电站的主要装置之一,如图1、图2所示。     

On the effects of solar radiation variations on solar heating system performances

The effect of solar radiation availability on the performance of different solar heating systems has been studied. The systems include a solar water heater, passive solar houses and district solar heating systems with seasonal heat storage. Also, different collector orientations and collector types have been investigated. The hourly radiation data were generated by a simple computational simulation procedure. It was found that district solar heating systems with concentrating collectors and passive solar houses showed the largest variations for the given conditions.     

Small hybrid solar power system

This paper introduces a novel concept of mini-hybrid solar power plant integrating a field of solar concentrators, two superposed Organic Rankine Cycles (ORC) and a (bio-)Diesel engine. The Organic Rankine Cycles include hermetic scroll expander-generators¹ and the sun tracking solar collectors are composed of rows of flat mirror bands (CEP) arranged in a plane, that focus the solar energy onto a collector tube similar to those used in SEGS plants in California. Waste heat from both the exhaust gases and the block cooling of the thermal engine are also heat sources for the ORCs. Such units meet electricity, cooling and pumping needs of remote settlements. The thermal engine guarantees a minimum level of both power and heat availability at night or during cloudy periods. Laboratory tests, made with the superposed ORCs only, confirmed adequate operational characteristics with good performances over a broad range of conditions. A few preliminary tests on the site of the solar power plant when coupled with the engine confirmed a reasonable behavior and the interest of the concept even at part load or during sharp variations of the thermal supply.     

Concentrated solar power on demand

A concentrating solar power system is presented which uses hillside mounted heliostats to direct sunlight into a volumetric absorption molten salt receiver with integral storage. The concentrated sunlight penetrates and is absorbed by molten salt in the receiver through a depth of 4-5 m, making the system insensitive to the passage of clouds. The receiver volume also acts as the thermal storage volume eliminating the need for secondary hot and cold salt storage tanks. A small aperture and refractory-lined domed roof reduce losses to the environment and reflect thermal radiation back into the pond. Hot salt is pumped from the top of the tank through a steam generator and then returned to the bottom of the tank. An insulated barrier plate is positioned within the tank to provide a physical and thermal barrier between the thermally stratified layers, maintaining hot and cold salt volumes required for continuous operation. As a result, high temperature thermal energy can be provided 24/7 or at any desired time.The amount of storage required depends on local needs and economic conditions. About 2500 m³ of nitrate salt is needed to operate a 4 MW_e steam turbine 24/7 (7 h sunshine, 17 h storage), and with modest heliostat field oversizing to accumulate energy, the system could operate for an additional 24 h (1 cloudy day). Alternatively, this same storage volume can supply a 50 MW_e turbine for 3.25 h without additional solar input. Cosine effect losses associated with hillside heliostats beaming light downwards to the receiver are offset by the elimination of a tower and separate hot and cold storage tanks and their associated pumping systems. Reduced system complexity also reduces variable costs. Using the NREL Solar Advisor program, the system is estimated to realize cost-competitive levelized production costs of electricity.     

Innovation in concentrated solar power

This work focuses on innovation in CSP technologies over the last decade. A multitude of advancements has been developed during this period, as the topic of concentrated solar power is becoming more mainstream. Improvements have been made in reflector and collector design and materials, heat absorption and transport, power production and thermal storage. Many applications that can be integrated with CSP regimes to conserve (and sometimes produce) electricity have been suggested and implemented, keeping in mind the environmental benefits granted by limited fossil fuel usage.     

Online short-term solar power forecasting

This paper describes a new approach to online forecasting of power production from PV systems. The method is suited to online forecasting in many applications and in this paper it is used to predict hourly values of solar power for horizons of up to 36 h. The data used is 15-min observations of solar power from 21 PV systems located on rooftops in a small village in Denmark. The suggested method is a two-stage method where first a statistical normalization of the solar power is obtained using a clear sky model. The clear sky model is found using statistical smoothing techniques. Then forecasts of the normalized solar power are calculated using adaptive linear time series models. Both autoregressive (AR) and AR with exogenous input (ARX) models are evaluated, where the latter takes numerical weather predictions (NWPs) as input. The results indicate that for forecasts up to 2 h ahead the most important input is the available observations of solar power, while for longer horizons NWPs are the most important input. A root mean square error improvement of around 35% is achieved by the ARX model compared to a proposed reference model.     

太阳能热发电系列文章(3)碟式太阳能热发电

2005年8月10日,美国SES公司(Stirling Energy Systems)与SCE公司(Southern California Edison)签订了一份为期20年的购买电力合同,由SES公司在美国洛杉矶东北莫哈韦沙漠地区采用碟式斯