• Energy Research

This report presents an overview of research conducted on solar energy technologies and their implementation in the ObjECTS framework. The topics covered include financing assumptions and selected issues related to the integration of concentrating thermal solar power (CSP) and photovoltaics PV technologies into the electric grid. A review of methodologies for calculating the levelized energy cost of capital-intensive technologies is presented, along with sensitivity tests illustrating how the cost of a solar plant would vary depending on financing assumptions. An analysis of the integration of a hybrid concentrating thermal solar power (CSP) system into the electric system is conducted. Finally a failure statistics analysis for PV plants illustrates the central role of solar irradiance uncertainty in determining PV grid integration characteristics.

This document describes some specifics of the algorithm for best estimate evaluation of radiation fluxes at Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility (CF). It uses the data available from the three co-located surface radiometer platforms at the SGP CF to automatically determine the best estimate of the irradiance measurements available. The Best Estimate Flux (BEFlux) value-added procedure (VAP) was previously named Best Estimate ShortWave (BESW) VAP, which included all of the broadband and spectral shortwave (SW) measurements for the SGP CF. In BESW, multiple measurements of the same quantities were handled simply by designating one as the primary measurement and using all others to merely fill in any gaps. Thus, this “BESW” is better termed “most continuous,” since no additional quality assessment was applied. We modified the algorithm in BESW to use the average of the closest two measurements as the best estimate when possible, if these measurements pass all quality assessment criteria. Furthermore, we included longwave (LW) fields in the best estimate evaluation to include all major components of the surface radiative energy budget, and renamed the VAP to Best Estimate Flux (BEFLUX1LONG).

In this note we develop a robust implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) algorithm based on more accurately updating the linearized equilibrium radiation energy density. The method does not introduce oscillations in the solution and has the same limit as {Delta}t{yields}{infinity} as the standard Fleck and Cummings IMC method. Moreover, the approach we introduce can be trivially added to current implementations of IMC by changing the definition of the Fleck factor. Using this new method we develop an adaptive scheme that uses either standard IMC or the modified method basing the adaptation on a zero-dimensional problem solved in each cell. Numerical results demonstrate that the new method alleviates both the nonphysical overheating that occurs in standard IMC when the time step is large and significantly diminishes the statistical noise in the solution.

An analytic basis for the limit on intra-media thermal radiation transport has been obtained as a simple function of temperature and material optical properties (n,k). It is shown that optical parameters determine the maximum radiative energy transfer rate by altering media radiative state density and energy density. Quantitative analysis shows that intra-media radiative transfer rates may exceed the radiation into free space as described by the Stephan-Boltzmann equation by several orders of magnitude. The frequency dependence of the optical properties further alters the expected blackbody spectral dependence. This generalized formulation of the limit to thermal radiation transfer in terms of media optical properties expands the understanding and future potential of radiative processes.

Solar reflectance can vary with the spectral and angular distributions of incident sunlight, which in turn depend on surface orientation, solar position and atmospheric conditions. A widely used solar reflectance metric based on the ASTM Standard E891 beam-normal solar spectral irradiance underestimates the solar heat gain of a spectrally selective ''cool colored'' surface because this irradiance contains a greater fraction of near-infrared light than typically found in ordinary (unconcentrated) global sunlight. At mainland US latitudes, this metric R{sub E891BN} can underestimate the annual peak solar heat gain of a typical roof or pavement (slope {<=} 5:12 [23 ]) by as much as 89 W m{sup -2}, and underestimate its peak surface temperature by up to 5 K. Using R{sub E891BN} to characterize roofs in a building energy simulation can exaggerate the economic value N of annual cool roof net energy savings by as much as 23%. We define clear sky air mass one global horizontal (''AM1GH'') solar reflectance R{sub g,0}, a simple and easily measured property that more accurately predicts solar heat gain. R{sub g,0} predicts the annual peak solar heat gain of a roof or pavement to within 2 W m{sup -2}, and overestimates N by no more thanmore » 3%. R{sub g,0} is well suited to rating the solar reflectances of roofs, pavements and walls. We show in Part II that R{sub g,0} can be easily and accurately measured with a pyranometer, a solar spectrophotometer or version 6 of the Solar Spectrum Reflectometer. (author)« less

Abstract A companion article explored how solar reflectance varies with surface orientation and solar position, and found that clear sky air mass 1 global horizontal (AM1GH) solar reflectance is a preferred quantity for estimating solar heat gain. In this study we show that AM1GH solar reflectance Rg,0 can be accurately measured with a pyranometer, a solar spectrophotometer, or an updated edition of the Solar Spectrum Reflectometer (version 6). Of primary concern are errors that result from variations in the spectral and angular distributions of incident sunlight. Neglecting shadow, background and instrument errors, the conventional pyranometer technique can measure Rg,0 to within 0.01 for surface slopes up to 5:12 [23°], and to within 0.02 for surface slopes up to 12:12 [45°]. An alternative pyranometer method minimizes shadow errors and can be used to measure Rg,0 of a surface as small as 1 m in diameter. The accuracy with which it can measure Rg,0 is otherwise comparable to that of the conventional pyranometer technique. A solar spectrophotometer can be used to determine R g,0 ∗ , a solar reflectance computed by averaging solar spectral reflectance weighted with AM1GH solar spectral irradiance. Neglecting instrument errors, R g,0 ∗ matches Rg,0 to within 0.006. The air mass 1.5 solar reflectance measured with version 5 of the Solar Spectrum Reflectometer can differ from R g,0 ∗ by as much as 0.08, but the AM1GH output of version 6 of this instrument matches R g,0 ∗ to within about 0.01.

This report describes in-depth analysis of photovoltaic (PV) output variability in a high-penetration residential PV installation in the Pal Town neighborhood of Ota City, Japan. Pal Town is a unique test bed of high-penetration PV deployment. A total of 553 homes (approximately 80% of the neighborhood) have grid-connected PV totaling over 2 MW, and all are on a common distribution line. Power output at each house and irradiance at several locations were measured once per second in 2006 and 2007. Analysis of the Ota City data allowed for detailed characterization of distributed PV output variability and a better understanding of how variability scales spatially and temporally. For a highly variable test day, extreme power ramp rates (defined as the 99th percentile) were found to initially decrease with an increase in the number of houses at all timescales, but the reduction became negligible after a certain number of houses. Wavelet analysis resolved the variability reduction due to geographic diversity at various timescales, and the effect of geographic smoothing was found to be much more significant at shorter timescales.

A numerical technique is presented for evaluating the geometrical radiant exchange factors (also called shape or view factors) between surfaces with interposed obstructions. Since the program is developed for plane surfaces, arbitrary surfaces are expressed by the juxtaposition of plane surfaces; to simplify the input and output, the program respectively combines and decomposes these elemental surfaces. The data input format, although designed for manual input, is ideally suited for standard three-dimensional mesh-generated programs. When obstructions are not present, the calculated exchange factors are accurate to within tenths of a percent; but when obstructions are present, the accuracy depends on the nature of the problem, the refinement of the elemental area mesh, and the amount of computation called for by the user. This program has been adapted for solving central-receiver cavity problems.

The most common type of photovoltaic installation in residential applications is the centralized architecture, but the performance of a centralized architecture is adversely affected when it is subject to partial shading effects due to clouds or surrounding obstacles, such as trees. An alternative modular approach can be implemented using several power converters with partial throughput power processing capability. This paper presents a detailed study of these two architectures for the same throughput power level and compares the overall efficiencies using a set of rapidly changing real solar irradiance data collected by the Solar Radiation Research Laboratory at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.