Sandia Technology Aims to Make Solar
Variability Measurement Easier for Grid Operators
Understanding solar variability is critical to integration of solar
energy in the grid system; overestimating variability can unnecessarily limit PV
penetration, while underestimating can increase costs or cause issues in grid
operation. Due in large part to the high cost of pyranometers (irradiance sensors) and data integration, solar variability is currently measured only at a few select locations.
This leaves grid operators in many locations with little or no data about solar
variability. Sandia is addressing these issues by developing a solar
variability sensor that is inexpensive, easy to install and network, and
requires no maintenance during the operating year. The sensor is also battery powered
and offers wireless communication capabilities for data transmission. The goal
is to encourage ubiquitous solar variability measurements by making such
measurements easy and cost-effective, while enhancing the role solar can play in
electric grid operation.
The lab’s “alpha” stage prototype (shown in photo) confirmed the ability of
low-cost components to measure solar variability. A “beta” sensor is now being
deployed for testing in three different locations so researchers can further
investigate the use and effectiveness of the technology.
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Sandia to Discuss Energy Storage Test Protocols at EU PVSEC
Researchers from Sandia will give a plenary talk on energy storage test
protocols at the European PV
Solar Energy Conference (EU PVSEC), to be held in September in Hamburg,
Germany. Plenary presentations are given to the entire conference and reserved
for outstanding papers which are seen as visionary in the field. In 2014, the
conference hosted an audience of approximately 3,000 professionals from 76
countries.
In the plenary, researchers will discuss efforts to standardize
interoperability certification protocols to validate Distributed Energy
Resource (DER) operation and communication within the power system. These
protocols will provide for evaluation of energy storage interoperability and
functionality, providing frequency and voltage stability of DER in bulk and
local power systems.
The research is being conducted by Sandia and its collaborators in the Smart
Grid International Research Facility Network (SIRFN)—
Austrian Institute of Technology, Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico in Italy, and
the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology's
Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute in Japan. The
associated conference paper discusses advanced energy storage requirements in
each SIRFN country as well as the development of harmonized interoperable
storage testing procedures, and presents experimental results from the
laboratories.
Members of the associated research team also
co-authored an article about similar work for PV inverters in the
March/April 2015 issue of IEEE
Power & Energy Magazine.
Sandia
Begins On-Tower Testing of CSP Falling Particle Receiver
In June, concentrating solar
power researchers at Sandia’s National
Solar Thermal Test Facility lifted the lab’s prototype falling particle
receiver to
the top of the tower. The receiver drops ceramic particles through a
beam of concentrated sunlight, which heats the particles to temperatures of at
least 700 degrees Celsius. The particles are then stored in an insulated tank, providing
energy to the concentrating solar power system as needed. The receiver’s
ability to withstand high temperatures means less storage material is required and more
energy is available, thus reducing cost while increasing efficiency. Conventional
receiver technologies are currently limited to temperatures of about 600
degrees Celsius.
Sandia tested the receiver on-ground
in March. On-tower testing will be conducted in two phases, which are discussed
in more detail in a Sandia
News Release. The release also includes a video of the system.
The project is funded by the U.S.
Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative
and is a collaborative effort of Sandia, the Georgia Institute of Technology,
Bucknell University, King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, and the German
Aerospace Center. The testing was highlighted by a variety of news sources,
including Solar
Industry Mag, Energy
Business Review, and CSP
World.
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Sandia Solar Researcher Featured in PBS Video
Sandia solar researcher
Kenneth Armijo is featured in a new edition of the New Mexico Public
Broadcasting Service’s (NMPBS’) “Why I
became a scientist,” on NMPBS’ Science Central website. In the video, Armijo discusses how his
inquisitive nature led to a career in science and gives viewers a glimpse
inside his average day at Sandia. He advises students interested in science to,
“always be willing to answer the question, ‘Why?’” A Ph.D. in mechanical engineering,
Armijo currently works in the National Solar Thermal Test Facility at Sandia. His
research includes work in inverter/power electronics reliability research, arc
fault plasma reliability physics, thermal phenomena of photovoltaic (PV)
technologies, and other topics aimed at advancing solar technologies. “Why I became
a scientist” features video interviews with inspiring scientists, aimed at getting
middle and high school students interested in math and science careers.
Registration, Session Descriptions
Available for 4th PV Performance Modeling Workshop
Session descriptions
and registration
are now available for the 4th PV Performance Modeling Workshop in
Cologne, Germany, October 22–23, 2015. Sandia is partnering with TUV Rheinland and the International
Energy Agency’s Photovoltaic Power Systems
Programme Task 13 to host the workshop, which will
convene solar photovoltaic (PV) professionals and researchers to discuss critical,
innovative technical issues related to PV
performance modeling. Sessions for the 2015 workshop include solar
resource data and uncertainty; soiling models; spectral corrections; bifacial
PV performance array modeling; updates about modeling tools; and field modeling
and validation of PV performance models. Registration is 300EUR
(including VAT).
Sandia Well-Represented at Solar Conferences
More than 15
Sandia solar researchers attended the 42nd IEEE Photovoltaic
Specialists Conference (PVSC) in New Orleans, LA, in June. Through plenary
presentations and poster sessions, Sandians detailed the lab’s
research in PV-related topics including grounding and arc faults, advanced inverters,
micro-scale PV, power simulations, accelerated life testing, PV-induced low voltage,
islanding, and reliability. PVSC convenes PV researchers, students, scientists,
engineers, technology and business leaders, academia, and government for
collaboration and knowledge sharing. The 43rd PVSC is scheduled for
June 6-10, 2016, in Portland, Oregon.
Five members of
Sandia’s concentrating solar power (CSP) team presented at The American Society
of Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME’s) 2015 Power Conference,
held June 28–July 2 in San Diego, CA. The team highlighted research in numerous
areas, including characterization
of particle flow in a free-falling solar particle receiver, structural analysis
of a direct tubular solar receiver for supercritical CO2 Brayton
cycle, design and characterization of a 1,000-sun low-cost solar simulator, effects
of photovoltaic surface texturing on transmittance and glint/glare, and optical-thermal-fluid
Modeling of a tubular solar receiver for supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle.
The Power Conference is part of ASME’s Power & Energy
series, which convenes more than 1,000 attendees at four power- and
energy-related conferences in one location.
Sandian
Contributes to WECC PV Power Plant Model Validation Guideline
As part of the Western Electricity Coordinating
Council’s (WECC’s) Modeling and Validation Work Group, Sandia researcher Ryan
Elliott recently contributed to an update to WECC’s Central
Station Photovoltaic Power Plant Model Validation Guideline. The
document provides photovoltaic (PV) plant owners and transmission planners with
best practices for model validation of utility-scale PV systems connected to the transmission
network The
procedures outlined in the document are designed to assist stakeholders with
compliance of NERC MOD standards. The guideline includes power flow and dynamic data
sets for bulk system studies of central station PV plants.
-
Precursor
Report of Data Needs and Recommended Practices for PV Plant Availability,
Operations and Maintenance Reporting, R. Hill, G.T. Klise, and John R. Balfour (High Performance
PV).
- Arc-Fault Unwanted Tripping
Survey with UL 1699B-Listed Products, J. Johnson, K.M. Armijo, M.
Avrutsky (Tigo Energy), D. Eizips (Tigo Energy), S. Kondrashov (Tigo Energy), IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists
Conference, June 2015.
- Comparison of Errors in Solar
Power Plant Variability Simulation Methods, M. Lave
- Structured
optimization for parameter selection of frequency-watt grid support functions
for wide-area damping, J. Neely, J. Johnson, R. Bryne,
R.T. Elliott, International Journal of Distributed Energy
Resources and Smart Grids, DERlab/SIRFN Special Issue on Pre-standardisation
Activities in Grid Integration of DER, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 69-94, 2015.
- Predicting the spectral
effect of soils on high concentrating photovoltaic systems, P.D. Burton, B.H. King, D. Riley, Solar Energy,
Volume 112, February 2015, Pages 469–474.
- Evaluation of Global
Horizontal Irradiance to Plane of Array Irradiance Models at Locations across
the United States, M. Lave, W.Hayes, A. Pohl, C.W.
Hansen, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 5, No. 2, February
2015.
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A Performance Model for
Photovoltaic Modules with Integrated Microinverters, D.M. Riley, C.W. Hansen, M. Farr.
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