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Solar thermal plants are basically power plants that generate electricity from high-temperature heat. The difference between them and conventional power plants is that instead of deriving energy from gas, coal or oil, the sun provides the energy that drives the turbines. In this paper we will give a brief demonstration of solar thermal power and di...
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Hybrid solar photovoltaic (PV)/thermal power systems offer the possibility of dispatchable, affordable and efficient solar electricity production - the type of transformative innovation needed for solar to realize high grid penetration. The PV sub-system enjoys high efficiency, and the thermal sub-system can ensure uninterrupted power delivery via...
The proposed research article presents an optimum Fuzzy-PID controller with a derivative filter (Fuzzy-PIDF) to stabilize the frequency in an interconnected power system which includes renewable sources of energy like solar thermal power generating units. The scrutinized system consists of two area unified power system where each area is consisting...
Citations
... Though this is low compared with the insolation in other locations like Arizona and New Mexico, it is still sufficient for a pilot scale study, including research and development (R&D). Therefore, the START Lab was established to explore solar power options within the state (Chambers, Raush, & Massiha, 2013), as well as to provide more insight into solar power development across different locations. The START Lab project is a parabolic trough CSP generating system. ...
This paper is focused on the modelling and simulation of a 50 kW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant located in Crowley, Louisiana. The model was developed using system advisor model (SAM). The objective is to develop a predictive model (using SAM) to characterize the performance of the power plant and, thus, aid the analysis and evaluation of the plant’s performance. The power plant is a research facility of the Solar Thermal Applied Research and Testing (START) Lab. The model was validated by comparing its predictions with the actual plant data. The comparison showed a good correlation between the predicted results and the actual plant data. The validated model was then used to perform parametric analyses across different locations. The analyses showed that by operating the power plant at the optimal combination of solar multiple and hours of storage, we can achieve about 70% reduction in the cost of electrical energy.
... In the project planning stages, understanding the quality and quantity of the resource is essential to accurately predict system performance and financial viability of any future project and can be broken down into three areas of study [3]. Site selection, predicted annual plant output, and short-term temporal performance and operating strategy will all be grossly affected by the local short-and long-term resource availability and fluctuation [4]. Additionally, accurate measurement and dissemination of resource data to determine short-and long-term plant performance is vital to optimize performance once operation is underway. ...
... There are currently several statistical metrics which have been proposed to quantitatively correlate and validate the measured and predictive solar radiation data [4,10,[20][21][22]. The root-mean-squared error (RMSE) provides a global error measure across an entire forecasting period and is defined as: ...
Background
The accessibility of reliable local solar resource data plays a critical role in the evaluation and development of any concentrating solar power (CSP) or photovoltaic (PV) project, impacting the areas of site selection, predicted output, and operational strategy. Currently available datasets for prediction of the local solar resource in south Louisiana rely exclusively on modeled data by various schemes. There is a significant need, therefore, to produce and report ground measured data to verify the various models under the specific and unique ambient conditions offered by the climate presented in south Louisiana.
Methods
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has been recording onsite high-fidelity solar resource measurements for the implementation into predictive models and for comparison with existing datasets and modeling resources. Industry standard instrumentation has been recording direct normal irradiance (DNI), diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI), and global horizontal irradiance (GHI), as well as meteorological weather data since 2013. The measured data was then compared statistically to several available solar resource datasets for the geographic area under consideration.
Results
Two years of high-fidelity solar resource measurements for a location in south Louisiana that were previously not available are presented. Collected data showed statistically good agreement with several existing datasets including those available from the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB). High variability in year-over-year monthly DNI due to cloud cover was prevalent, while a more consistent GHI level was observed.
Conclusions
The analysis showed that the datasets presented can be utilized for predictive analysis on a monthly or yearly basis with good statistical correlation. High variability in year-over-year monthly DNI due to cloud cover was prevalent, with as much as a 70 % difference in monthly DNI values observed in the measured data. A more consistent GHI level was observed since the GHI is less susceptible to cloud cover transients. Collected data showed statistically good agreement with several existing datasets including those available from the NSRDB when forecasting was for monthly and yearly intervals.
... Currently, concentrating solar power (CSP) offers the most economical commercial scale solar power option and there are many examples of existing or planned commercial scale installations in areas of high solar resource. There are very few, however, commercial or pilot scale installations in areas of moderate solar resource and none in Louisiana [2]. The introduction of a pilot scale parabolic trough solar thermal power plant in Louisiana will allow the local demonstration of several key technical components of solar power as well as further the field as a whole with the development and validation of analytical models for further planning and innovation. ...
... Louisiana resides in an area of the United States where the solar resource is substantially less than that of the current commercial scale CSP installations of the southwest U.S. [2]. Figure 1 shows a map of the U.S. Solar Resource developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). ...
During the calendar year of 2012 the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in conjunction with CLECO Power LLC (CLECO) has constructed and commissioned a pilot scale parabolic trough solar thermal power plant for the first time in Louisiana. The large aperture trough (LAT) solar collectors were provided by Gossamer Space Frames and are coupled with an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) power block provided by ElectraTherm, Inc. for study of the feasibility of cost-effective commercial scale solar thermal power production in Louisiana. Supported by CLECO and providing power to the existing CLECO grid, the implementation of state-of-the-industry collector frames, mirrors, trackers, and ORC power block is studied under various local weather conditions which present varied operating regimes from existing solar thermal installations. The solar collectors provide a design output of 650 kWth and preliminary actual performance data from the system level is presented. The optimal size, configuration and location for such a plant in the given solar resource region are being studied in conjunction with CLECO's search for optimal renewable energy solutions for the region. The pilot scale size of the facility and implementation of the simpler ORC allows remote operation of the facility and flexibility in operating parameters for optimization studies. The construction of the facility was supported by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Department of Energy, and CLECO. The continued operation of the plant is supported by CLECO Power LLC and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
... While significant solar resource (greater than 6.0 kWh/m 2 /day) exists in the southwest continental United States (US), much of the country is covered by a band of moderate solar resource (4.0 -6.0 kWh/m 2 /day); it is in this band that the US state of Louisiana resides. Currently, concentrating solar power (CSP) offers the most economical commercial scale solar power option and there are many examples of existing or planned commercial scale installations in areas of high solar resource [2]. There are very few, however, commercial or pilot scale installations in areas of moderate solar resource and none in Louisiana [3]. ...
High performance computing is increasingly common in technological industries and there are many different solutions available on the market. Determining which computing solution is most cost-effective can be difficult. This study outlines the performance between a single-user, traditional high-performance workstation and a multiuser , virtualized workstation. Along with this direct performance comparison, the impacts of virtualization on rendering performance, GPUs, and the technological industry is evaluated in this study. Through the repeated rendering of two different Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models under varying test scenarios, a pool of data including render times and image quality is collected and analyzed. Two phenomena are observed and explained. One is a diminishing return in GPU power output that is observed after allocating four or more GPUs to a single rendering task. The second is a noticeable point of image-noise convergence during a render that could potentially be calculated and exploited to make rendering more time-efficient. These discoveries may impact the effectiveness of virtual GPU scalability and make time-consuming rendering more efficient for industry users. The NVIDIA GRID Visual Computing Appliance (VCA) is found to be cost effective for research laboratories that have several users with diverse needs.
An accurate estimate of fixed operating costs is essential to determine the financial viability of any proposed project. Although other researchers have reported maintenance costs for large-scale concentrating solar power (CSP) plants in the United States [1-2], there is currently little information available specifically for small-scale CSP or solar Industrial Process Heat (IPH) plants. This paper discusses the maintenance of an operating small-scale CSP plant in Louisiana over a four year period. The results are also applicable to a small-scale IPH plant. Maintenance activities and costs are discussed for the collector field, the power block, and the cooling tower. For the collector field, a study of the degradation of mirror reflectance between washings was performed for three different types of reflective polymer thin films (3M 1100, 3M 2020, and Konica Minolta). Overall, the 3M 2020 film provided better reflectivity between washings than the other films. An optimized mirror washing schedule was determined. Optimal mirror washing schedules are very site-dependent, but for this humid subtropical location, the most economical washing schedule was found to be every 114 days, or approximately three times per year. A recommended maintenance plan for small-scale CSP and IPH plants is presented and actual maintenance costs over a four year period are provided. It was found that maintenance costs for small-scale plants are substantially larger than for large-scale plants, and that maintenance costs for small-scale IPH plants are much lower than for small-scale CSP plants, making IPH applications significantly more attractive. The average annual maintenance cost for a small-scale CSP plant was found to be approximately $457/kWe, or $0.27/kWhe. For a small-scale IPH plant the costs were $3.72/m 2 , $7.81/kWt, and $0.005/kWht.
This study investigates the performance of solar powered organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system. Parabolic trough collector PTC is utilised in this study. The selected site is located in the northern part of Jordan. Simulation models are built to assess the performance of system. The simulation models are built by means of mass and energy balances applied to every component of the system. The model simulates the hourly thermal behaviour of all system components. Different working fluids are compared. The effect of key operating variables on the system performance is examined. Simulation results show that there is an optimum values for mass flow rate, and inlet turbine pressure for each months. For the working fluid studied, the average daily overall efficiency ranges between 9 to 22% during summer time. The comparison between working fluids showed that the most efficient fluid is Butane. The optimal daily average overall efficiency reaches 18%. It is found that using PTC of area of 617 m(2) with ORC is reliable system producing above 80 kW during summer time. Mass flow rates have major effect on the cost of energy production. Furthermore, this study presents design optimisation so that solar thermal power plant can achieve higher reliable continuous operation with system components.
This paper investigates the performance of solar thermal system for powering irrigation pump. It also summarizes the recent developments of solar thermal power systems. Furthermore, it updates the literature about the recent findings of thermal solar power system and presents different methodologies of enhancing the solar energy conversion system. The solar thermal irrigation pump uses steam Rankine cycles SRC integrated with parabolic trough collector PTC. The selected site is located in the northern part of Jordan. Simulation models are built to assess the performance of solar thermal irrigation system. The simulation models are built by means of mass and energy balances applied to every component of the system. The model simulates the hourly thermal behavior of all system components. The effect of key operating variables on the system performance is examined. Simulation results show that there is an optimum values for mass flow rate where maximum power out can be obtained. The average daily overall efficiency ranges between 10 to 13% during summer time. The optimal daily average overall efficiency reaches 18%. Results show that the concentration ratio has negligible effect on the overall system performance. It is found that using PTC of area of 526 m2 with SRC is reliable system producing above 30 kW during summer time. Economic analysis reveals that the solar energy cost is $0.075/kWh. Furthermore, this paper presents design optimization so that STWP can achieve higher reliable continuous operation with system components.
