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Abstract Secondary concentrators are used in solar concentrating systems to redirect solar beams reflected by the primary concentrators to the focal point or line. These components allow to increase the concentrated solar flux density and hence to lower thermal radiation losses. Solar reflectors for secondary concentrators are permanently exposed to environmental conditions, high radiation fluxes and elevated temperatures that potentially cause stress and degradation throughout the time. Therefore, analyzing solar reflectors of secondary concentrators by simulating these conditions is crucial. No previous research works about the durability of solar reflector materials for secondary concentrators have been reported. The present work is focused on studying the degradation of the reflector materials by simulating accelerated aging, caused by several ambient parameters and the effect of concentrated radiation. Both cooled and uncooled systems for secondary concentrators are included in this study. According to results obtained, aluminum reflectors and thin silvered-glass reflectors glued to an aluminum structure showed minimum reflectance losses and structural degradation under the operation conditions of cooled 3D secondary concentrators (tower systems). Following critical aspects to avoid reflector degradation were identified: to select a suitable adhesive material to glue the thin silvered-glass reflector to the support aluminum structure, to properly protect reflectors edges, to design a suitable cooling system and to avoid the combination of high radiation fluxes with mechanical stress. In addition, laminated silvered-glass reflectors have shown to be suitable for uncooled 2D secondary concentrators (Fresnel collectors). Furthermore, a comparison with naturally aged secondary concentrators using silvered-glass reflectors glued to an aluminum structure revealed that the simulated degradation under accelerated conditions performed in this work did reproduce the most frequent degradation patterns suffered in real operating conditions.

The successful electricity grid integration of solar energy into day-ahead markets requires at least hourly resolved 48 h forecasts. Technologies as photovoltaics and non-concentrating solar thermal technologies make use of global horizontal irradiance (GHI) forecasts, while all concentrating technologies both from the photovoltaic and the thermal sector require direct normal irradiances (DNI). The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) has recently changed towards providing direct as well as global irradiances. Additionally, the MACC (Monitoring Atmospheric Composition & Climate) near-real time services provide daily analysis and forecasts of aerosol properties in preparation of the upcoming European Copernicus programme. The operational ECMWF/IFS (Integrated Forecast System) forecast system will in the medium term profit from the Copernicus service aerosol forecasts. Therefore, within the MACC‑II project specific experiment runs were performed allowing for the assessment of the performance gain of these potential future capabilities. Also the potential impact of providing forecasts with hourly output resolution compared to three-hourly resolved forecasts is investigated. The inclusion of the new aerosol climatology in October 2003 improved both the GHI and DNI forecasts remarkably, while the change towards a new radiation scheme in 2007 only had minor and partly even unfavourable impacts on the performance indicators. For GHI, larger RMSE (root mean square error) values are found for broken/overcast conditions than for scattered cloud fields. For DNI, the findings are opposite with larger RMSE values for scattered clouds compared to overcast/broken cloud situations. The introduction of direct irradiances as an output parameter in the operational IFS version has not resulted in a general performance improvement with respect to biases and RMSE compared to the widely used Skartveit et al. (1998) global to direct irradiance conversion scheme. Cloudy situations and especially thin ice cloud cases are forecasted much better with respect to biases and RMSE, but large biases are introduced in clear sky cases. When applying the MACC aerosol scheme to include aerosol direct effects, an improvement especially in DNI biases is found for cloud free cases as expected. However, a performance decrease is found for water cloud cases. It is assumed that this is caused by the lack of an explicit modelling of cloud-aerosol interactions, while other meteorological forcings for cloud processes like the temperature field are modified by the aerosols.

This dataset contains 365 hyperspectral albedo maps of Earth, one for each day of the year. The hyperspectral albedo maps are built from a 10-year average of the MODIS Surface Reflectance dataset (MCD43D 42-48, version 6.1). Using a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) regression algorithm we combine different hyperspectral laboratory and in-situ measurements spectra of various dry soils, vegetation surfaces and mixure of both to reconstruct the albedo maps in the entire wavelength range from 400 to 2500 nm, with a spectral resolution of 10 nm. The hyperspectral albedo maps have a spatial resolution of 0.05° in latitude and longitude. Additional hyperspectral albedo maps with a coarser spatial or spectral resolution are available upon request. Access to dataData files are available for download at: https://opendata.physik.lmu.de/kXZksootPPjK6XC

In solar thermal power plants, at least the solar part undergoes a daily start-up process. Since duration and energy consumption of the start-up depend on irradiance and temperature boundary conditions, differences occur between the individual days and especially between the seasons. For a good representation in annual electricity yield calculations, the start-up process should be modeled on a daily basis. This paper presents a closed approach for the calculation of start-up and cool-down in solar thermal power plants especially designed for annual calculations. It is demonstrated by one example how the required parameters can be obtained and how the methodology is applied. A sensitivity analysis reveals the large impact of start-up consumption on the annual yield.

Ca-Mn-based perovskites doped in their A- and B-site were synthesized and comparatively tested versus the Co3O4/CoO and (Mn,Fe)2O3/(Mn,Fe)3O4 redox pairs with respect to thermochemical storage and oxygen pumping capability, as a function of the kind and extent of dopant. The perovskites' induced heat effects measured via differential scanning calorimetry are substantially lower: the highest reaction enthalpy recorded by the CaMnO3–δ composition was only 14.84 kJ/kg compared to 461.1 kJ/kg for Co3O4/CoO and 161.0 kJ/kg for (Mn,Fe)2O3/(Mn,Fe)3O4. Doping of Ca with increasing content of Sr decreased these heat effects; more than 20 at % Sr eventually eliminated them. Perovskites with Sr instead of Ca in the A-site exhibited also negligible heat effects, irrespective of the kind of B site cation. On the contrary, perovskite compositions characterized by high oxygen release/uptake can operate as thermochemical oxygen pumps enhancing the performance of water/carbon dioxide splitting materials. Oxygen pumping via Ca0.9Sr0.1MnO3–δ and SrFeO3–δ doubled and tripled, respectively, the total oxygen absorbed by ceria during its re-oxidation versus that absorbed without their presence. Such effective pumping compositions exhibited practically no shrinkage during one heat-up/cool-down cycle. However, they demonstrated an increase of the coefficient of linear expansion due to the superposition of “chemical expansion” to thermal-only one, the effect of which on the long-term dimensional stability has to be further quantified through extended cyclic operation.

The use of liquid metals in solar power systems is not new. The receiver tests with liquid sodium in the 1980s at the Plataforma Solar de Almer a (PSA) already proved the feasibility of liquid metals as heat transfer fluid. Despite the high efficiency achieved with that receiver, further investigation of liquid metals in solar power systems was stopped due to a sodium spray fire. Recently, the topic has become interesting again and the gained experience during the last 30 years of liquid metals handling is applied to the concentrated solar power community. In this paper, recent activities of the Helmholtz Alliance LIMTECH concerning liquid metals for solar power systems are presented. In addition to the components and system simulations also the experimental setup and results are included.

Abstract With the push to curb dangerous atmospheric pollutant production, energy generation technologies that reduce green-house gas emissions, while still providing adequate electrical supply, are of high importance. With major energy infrastructure already in place, developing enhanced pollutant-reducing combustor systems for micro gas turbines (MGTs), that can utilize low calorific fuels from renewable resources, is a major goal. The current work focuses on the experimental testing of an optimized two-stage combustor designed to operate with various fuel types, including natural gas and syngas produced via biomass gasification. Atmospheric experimental tests were performed and the results indicate larger flame lift-off heights and slightly higher CO gas emissions levels, while displaying lower NOx gas emissions levels for all thermal loads and air-to-fuel equivalence ratios tested, compared to that of the previous combustor designs. Additionally, steady-state computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted and the results are in general good agreement with the experimental data. Overall, the results indicate high fuel flexibility of the combustor, as well as the ability to comply with the NOx emissions limits for a larger range of operating points, compared to that of the previously tested combustors.

Abstract The market diffusion of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) is a research topic which is often addressed, yet PEV market diffusion models differ in their approaches, the factors they include and results. Here, 40 market diffusion models for PEVs are compared in their scope, approach and findings to point out similarities or differences and make recommendations for future improvements in modeling in this field. Important input factors for the US are the purchase price and operating costs, while for Germany energy prices and the charging infrastructure are mentioned more often. Furthermore, larger sales shares of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles than battery electric vehicles are often found in the short term results (until 2030) while the picture is not so clear for the medium- to long-term. Future market penetration models should include specific PEV features like the limited range of battery electric vehicles or access to charging infrastructure, which are currently not covered by many models. Also, the integration of current policy regulations and, if possible, indirect policy incentives would enhance research in this field.