ANALYSIS PERFORMANCE OF LARGE SCALE GRID CONNECTED PV POWER PLANTS IN THE TROPICAL REGION.

The main objective of this research is analysed and compared the performance of two solar power plants to identify the possible operational problems in the tropical region. The grid connected PV power plants considered in the present study, Ten Merina and Senergy, were installed in the region of Thies (Senegal). Solar power plants have the same installed capacity 29.491 MWp. A period of one operation year of the solar power plants is considered, starting from January 2018 to December 2018. The performance parameters developed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) are used to analyse the performances of solar power plants. The results show that the plane of array irradiance at the sites is identical with an annual average of 6.2 kWh/m2/d. The annual average performance ratio and final yield of solar power plants are respectively 74.3 %; 4.61 kWh/kWp to Ten Merina and 75.9 %; 4.66 kWh/kWp to Senergy. These results are compared to other solar power plants installed in different locations around the world.

1988 ◽  
Vol 110 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunnar Wettermark

The article summarizes the results of the operation of the two solar power plants of the SSPS project (Small Solar Power Systems) at Almeria, carried out within the framework of the International Energy Agency. The two power plants were built side by side in order to compare two thermal-electric techniques, one being a distributed collector system (DCS) with arrays of parabolic troughs and the other a central receiver system (CRS) with heliostats concentrating the sunlight onto the top of a tower. Each plant was constructed with a nominal capacity of 500 kWel and was expected to have a net yearly output on the order of 1 GWh.—Only the DCS plant was in operation sufficiently to enable an assessment of possible annual production of electricity. Through extrapolation one finds that the gross output of the built plant was maximal 0.25 GWh with an overall efficiency of 2.3 percent for a plant with 100 percent availability and no malfunctions. Internal electricity consumption correspondingly calculated amounts to 0.11 GWh resulting in only 0.14 GWh yearly net output. Using the experimental values from the CRS plant, it appears that its yearly gross output could have been similar to that of the DCS plant but at higher internal electricity consumption, particularly due to the trace heating of the heat transfer medium (sodium).—The technical reasons for the poor efficiency of the SSPS installation were largely that the solar climate was less favorable then assumed, dirt accumulated on the mirrors at a more rapid rate than foreseen, the nonsolar specific components were badly matched and yielded low efficiencies, and thermal inertia was crucial and almost overlooked in the planning stage.—A detailed loss analysis is presented in the article.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6223
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Wendsongre Ramde ◽  
Eric Tutu Tchao ◽  
Yesuenyeagbe Atsu Kwabla Fiagbe ◽  
Jerry John Kponyo ◽  
Asakipaam Simon Atuah

Electricity is one of the most crucial resources that drives any given nation’s growth and development. The latest Sustainable Development Goals report indicates Africa still has a high deficit in electricity generation. Concentrating solar power seems to be a potential option to fill the deficit. That is because most of the components of concentrating solar power plants are readily available on the African market at affordable prices, and there are qualified local persons to build the plants. Pilot micro-concentrating solar power plants have been implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa and have shown promising results that could be expanded and leveraged for large-scale electricity generation. An assessment of a pilot concentrating solar power plant in the sub-region noticed one noteworthy obstacle that is the failure of the tracking system to reduce the operating energy cost of running the tracking control system and improve the multifaceted heliostat focusing behavior. This paper highlights the energy situation and the current development in concentrating solar power technology research in Africa. The paper also presents a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art solar tracking systems for central receiver systems to illustrate the current direction of research regarding the design of low-cost tracking systems in terms of computational complexity, energy consumption, and heliostat alignment accuracy.


1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Smith ◽  
E. E. Rush ◽  
C. W. Matthews ◽  
J. M. Chavez ◽  
P. A. Bator

The molten salt pump and valve (P&V) test loops at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) operated between Jan. 1988 and Oct. 1990. The purpose of the P&V test was to demonstrate the performance, reliability, and service life of full-scale hot and cold salt pumps and valves for use in commercial central receiver solar power plants. The P&V test hardware consists of two pumped loops; the “Hot Loop” to simulate the hot (565°C) side of the receiver and the “Cold Loop” to simulate the receiver’s cold (285°C) side. Each loop contains a pump and five valves sized to be representative of a conceptual 60-MWe commercial solar power plant design. The hot loop accumulated over 6700 hours of operation and the cold loop over 2500 hours of operation. This project has demonstrated that standard commercial scale pump and valve designs will work in molten salt. The test also exposed some pitfalls that must be avoided in specifying such equipment. Although certainly not all of the pitfalls were discovered, careful design and specification should result in reliable or at least workable equipment.


2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (8S2) ◽  
pp. 08ME02 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nattakarn Sakarapunthip ◽  
Dhirayut Chenvidhya ◽  
Surawut Chuangchote ◽  
Krissanapong Kirtikara ◽  
Tanokkorn Chenvidhya ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Henry Price ◽  
David Kearney

Parabolic trough solar technology is the most proven and lowest cost large-scale solar power technology available today, primarily because of the nine large commercial-scale solar power plants that are operating in the California Mojave Desert. However, no new plants have been built during the past ten years because the cost of power from these plants is more expensive than power from conventional fossil fuel power plants. This paper reviews the current cost of energy and the potential for reducing the cost of energy from parabolic trough solar power plant technology based on the latest technological advancements and projected improvements from industry and sponsored R&D. The paper also looks at the impact of project financing and incentives on the cost of energy.


Kilat ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-124
Author(s):  
Tri Joko Pramono ◽  
Erlina Erlina ◽  
Zainal Arifin ◽  
Jef Saragih

Solar Power Plant is one of the New Renewable Energy power plants. Solar panels can produce unlimited amounts of electrical energy directly taken from the sun, with no rotating parts and no fuel. In this study are optimize solar power plants using hybrid systems with electricity companies and the use of semi-transparent solar panels in high rise buildings to meet the burden of the building. The research will discussed about use of solar power plants using semi-transparent solar panels in multi-storey buildings. The solar panel used for the facade is a semi-transparent solar panel makes its function become two, that is to produce electrical energy as well as glass through which sunlight and can see the view outside the building without reducing the building's aesthetic value. In this study is the value of solar radiation taken from west is the lowest value in November 1.4 Kwh can produce energy PLTS 3,855 Kwh and the highest solar radiation in July amounted to 3.75 Kwh can produce energy PLTS 10.331 Kwh. From the utilization of this PLTS system, Performance Ratio of 85% was obtained using study of 36 panels on the 3rd to 5th floors, this system can be said to feasible.  


Smart Cities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 840-863
Author(s):  
Hugo Algarvio

Global warming contributes to the worldwide goal of a sustainable carbon-neutral society. Currently, hydroelectric, wind and solar power plants are the most competitive renewable technologies. They are limited to the primary resource availability, but while hydroelectric power plants (HPPs) can have storage capacity but have several geographical limitations, wind and solar power plants have variable renewable energy (VRE) with stochastic profiles, requiring a substantially higher investment when equipped with battery energy storage systems. One of the most affordable solutions to compensate the stochastic behaviour of VRE is the active participation of consumers with demand response capability. Therefore, the role of citizen energy communities (CECs) can be important towards a carbon-neutral society. This work presents the economic and environmental advantages of CECs, by aggregating consumers, prosumers and VRE at the distribution level, considering microgrid trades, but also establishing bilateral agreements with large-scale VRE and HPPs, and participating in electricity markets. Results from the case-study prove the advantages of CECs and self-consumption. Currently, CECs have potential to be carbon-neutral in relation to electricity consumption and reduce consumers’ costs with its variable term until 77%. In the future, electrification may allow CECs to be fully carbon-neutral, if they increase their flexibility portfolio.


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