scholarly journals Towards the Development of a Low-Cost Irradiance Nowcasting Sky Imager

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Valentín ◽  
Manuel Peña-Cruz ◽  
Daniela Moctezuma ◽  
Cesar Peña-Martínez ◽  
Carlos Pineda-Arellano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Irradiance ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Detection System ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Resource Assessment ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Robust Detection ◽  
Solar Power Plants ◽  
Solar Resource

Solar resource assessment is fundamental to reduce the risk in selecting the solar power-plants’ location; also for designing the appropriate solar-energy conversion technology and operating new sources of solar-power generation. Having a reliable methodology for solar irradiance forecasting allows accurately identifying variations in the plant energy production and, as a consequence, determining improvements in energy supply strategies. A new trend for solar resource assessment is based on the analysis of the sky dynamics by processing a set of images of the sky dome. In this paper, a methodology for processing the sky dome images to obtain the position of the Sun is presented; this parameter is relevant to compute the solar irradiance implemented in solar resource assessment. This methodology is based on the implementation of several techniques in order to achieve a combined, fast, and robust detection system for the Sun position regardless of the conditions of the sky, which is a complex task due to the variability of the sky dynamics. Identifying the correct position of the Sun is a critical parameter to project whether, in the presence of clouds, the occlusion of the Sun is occurring, which is essential in short-term solar resource assessment, the so-called irradiance nowcasting. The experimental results confirm that the proposed methodology performs well in the detection of the position of the Sun not only in a clear-sky day, but also in a cloudy one. The proposed methodology is also a reliable tool to cover the dynamics of the sky.

Performance and Water Consumption of the Solar Steam-Injection Gas Turbine Cycle

2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Livshits ◽  
Abraham Kribus
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Steam Injection ◽  
Water Recovery ◽  
Solar Power Plants ◽  
Improved Model ◽  
Hybrid Cycle

Solar heat at moderate temperatures around 200 °C can be utilized for augmentation of conventional steam-injection gas turbine power plants. Solar concentrating collectors for such an application can be simpler and less expensive than collectors used for current solar power plants. We perform a thermodynamic analysis of this hybrid cycle, focusing on improved modeling of the combustor and the water recovery condenser. The cycle's water consumption is derived and compared to other power plant technologies. The analysis shows that the performance of the hybrid cycle under the improved model is similar to the results of the previous simplified analysis. The water consumption of the cycle is negative due to water production by combustion, in contrast to other solar power plants that have positive water consumption. The size of the needed condenser is large, and a very low-cost condenser technology is required to make water recovery in the solar STIG cycle technically and economically feasible.

scholarly journals Pilot Low-Cost Concentrating Solar Power Systems Deployment in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study of Implementation Challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6223
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Wendsongre Ramde ◽  
Eric Tutu Tchao ◽  
Yesuenyeagbe Atsu Kwabla Fiagbe ◽  
Jerry John Kponyo ◽  
Asakipaam Simon Atuah
Keyword(s):  
Electricity Generation ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Tracking Systems ◽  
Concentrating Solar Power ◽  
Solar Power Plants ◽  
Sub Saharan

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.

Satellite-Based Operational Solar Irradiance Forecast for Uruguay's Solar Power Plants

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Alonso-Suarez ◽  
Franco Marchesoni ◽  
Liber Dovat ◽  
Agustin Laguarda
Keyword(s):  
Solar Irradiance ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Solar Power Plants ◽  
Irradiance Forecast

scholarly journals Solar Resource Potentials and Annual Capacity Factor Based on the Korean Solar Irradiance Datasets Derived by the Satellite Imagery from 1996 to 2019

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 3422
Author(s):  
Chang Ki Kim ◽  
Hyun-Goo Kim ◽  
Yong-Heack Kang ◽  
Chang-Yeol Yun ◽  
Boyoung Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Irradiance ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Absolute Error ◽  
Capacity Factor ◽  
Energy Research ◽  
Solar Insolation ◽  
Total Irradiance ◽  
Solar Power Plants ◽  
Annual Capacity ◽  
Solar Resource

The Korea Institute of Energy Research builds Korean solar irradiance datasets, using gridded solar insolation estimates derived using the University of Arizona solar irradiance based on Satellite–Korea Institute of Energy Research (UASIBS–KIER) model, with the incorporation of geostationary satellites over the Korean Peninsula, from 1996 to 2019. During the investigation period, the monthly mean of daily total irradiance was in a good agreement with the in situ measurements at 18 ground stations; the mean absolute error is also normalized to 9.4%. It is observed that the irradiance estimates in the datasets have been gradually increasing at a rate of 0.019 kWh m−2 d−1 per year. The monthly variation in solar irradiance indicates that the meteorological conditions in the spring season dominate the annual solar insolation. In addition, the local distribution of solar irradiance is primarily affected by the geographical environment; higher solar insolation is observed in the southern part of Korea, but lower solar insolation is observed in the mountainous range in Korea. The annual capacity factor is the secondary output from the Korean solar irradiance datasets. The reliability of the estimate of this factor is proven by the high correlation coefficient of 0.912. Thus, in accordance with the results from the spatial distribution of solar irradiance, the southern part of Korea is an appropriate region for establishing solar power plants exhibiting a higher annual capacity factor than the other regions.

scholarly journals The Use of Inverters in Solar Power Plants for Alternating Current Loads

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-158
Author(s):  
Noorly Evalina ◽  
Faisal Irsan Pasaribu ◽  
Abdul Azis H
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Voltage Drop ◽  
Alternating Current ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Output Current ◽  
Solar Power Plants ◽  
The Government ◽  
Led Lights

The sun shines on the territory of Indonesia for about 10 to 12 hours every day, so that solar power plants can be developed in Indonesia, the government has launched the movement of one million PLTS roofs in 2017, this research uses solar panels with a capacity of 200 Wp, which consists of 2 solar panels connected in parallel, solar charge controllers, batteries, inverters and as an AC load a fan, soldering iron and LED lights, the research aims to determine the output current, voltage and output power of the inverter when given an alternating current load that is inductive, resistive and capacitive, the method used is to measure the intensity of the sun, temperature, voltage, electric current, power factor, when the load is large the voltage drops depending on the given load, the inductive fan load has a voltage drop that is greater than the voltage drop that occurs in the soldering load and the LED lamp, the large current flowing on the output side fan load wants to be bigger than output current flowing in the solder and LED lights, the low efficiency of the inverter used can shorten the life of the electrical equipment used.

Low-Cost Material for Sensible Heat Based Thermal Storage to be Used in Thermodynamic Solar Power Plants

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Py ◽  
Nicolas Calvet ◽  
Re´gis Olives ◽  
Patrick Echegut ◽  
Catherine Bessada
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Solar Power ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Thermal Storage ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Sensible Heat ◽  
Storage Material ◽  
Heat Storage Material ◽  
High Investment ◽  
Solar Power Plants

Thermal storage is a key component for thermal solar power plants. Today, no technology and material meet all the desired technical, economical and environmental targets. Especially in the case of extended storage (some hours), thousands of tonnes of materials are concerned leading to high investment cost as well as high energy and CO2 contents. In the present paper, an industrial ceramic made by vitrification of asbestos containing wastes is studied as a candidate to sensible heat storage material for both medium and high temperature solar power plants. The obtained stone-like material presents no hazard, no environmental impact, good thermophysical properties and a very low commercial cost (8 euros/t). Thanks to the vitrification process of the wastes, the obtained ceramic is very stable up to 1000°C and can be manufactured in a desired shape. Then, heat exchangers made of the storage material can be potentially realised and integrated in thermal processes.

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