The
Sandia Solar Programs e-newsletter features highlights, key activities, events,
and publications. News is also available on Sandia’s
Energy and Climate website. We welcome your
feedback. Please e-mail comments and suggestions to solar@sandia.gov. We hope you enjoy this
valuable resource!
Events
Sandia Labs and
EPRI Hosted the 2016 PV Systems Symposium
Hosted by the Electric Power Reserach Institute (EPRI) and Sandia
National Laboratories, this 3-day event in Santa Clara, CA, drew over 200
participants to learn about and discuss relevant issues surrounding PV
performance, reliability, and grid integration. The first day was devoted to
the 5th
PV Performance Modeling Workshop, covering several topics including solar
resource characterization, model improvements, modeling tool updates, and
monitoring applications. Two parallel
events ran on Day 2: the PV Grid Integration Workshop considered how best to
manage increasing numbers of PV systems on the distribution grid, while a side meeting
was held for users of the PVLIB modeling libraries. The PV
Lifecycle Workshop was held on Day 3.
All events were well attended by a diverse group of participants,
including several who traveled from Asia and Europe to attend. The conversation
continues at the PV Performance Modeling Collaborative site. Sandia and EPRI intend to host another
symposium next year. Contact: Josh Stein
Research Updates
Sandia Labs Presents Grid Integration Research at IEEE
Sandia photovoltaics researchers
Robert Broderick and Matthew Reno presented their grid integration
research at the IEEE PES T&D Conference & Exposition in early May
in Dallas, TX. The Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers convenes the Power Energy Society to
address big ideas shaping innovation in energy transmission and distribution
(T&D), and provide opportunities for researchers to interact with utilities
that display the latest power systems equipment and solutions. See the
Broderick, et al., and Peppanen, et al., publications listed under Recent
Publications, below. Contact: Robert Broderick and Matthew Reno
High-Temperature
Falling Particle Receiver Reaches New Limits
At its National Solar Thermal Test
Facility, Sandia National Laboratories recently completed a 3½-yearproject funded by DOE’s SunShot Initiative to
develop a high-temperature falling particle receiver, in which sand-like
ceramic particles are heated as they fall through a beam of highly concentrated
sunlight focused by an array of mirrors. The falling-particle receiver
enables concentrated solar power with thermal storage for on-demand electricity
production and process heat at significantly higher temperatures (up to 1000 °C
and higher), which can increase power cycle efficiencies and reduce levelized
costs. Sandia constructed and successfully demonstrated the world’s first
continuously recirculating high-temperature 1 MWt falling particle
receiver, achieving peak particle temperatures over 900°C and bulk temperatures
over 800°C. The particle heating rate reached 100–300°C per meter of
illuminated drop distance at concentrated solar irradiances of ~1,000 kW/m2 and
thermal conversion efficiencies of ~80%. The particle receiver is being
considered for next-generation solarized supercritical CO2 Brayton
cycles. A new project through the SunShot National Laboratory Multiyear
Partnership (FY16–FY18) was awarded to Sandia to develop a particle/sCO2 heat
exchanger for this concept. Contact: Cliff Ho
Illuminated falling particle receiver on top of tower at Sandia Labs
Particle flow over staggered array of chevron mesh structures to reduce velocities
Sandia National Laboratories Experts Co-Author DOE Reports on Grid
Integration and Concentrating Solar Power
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently released On the Path to SunShot, a series of eight reports that takes stock of progress made halfway into the ten-year SunShot Initiative and highlights remaining opportunities for and barriers to achieving cost reductions by 2020. DOE originally launched the SunShot Initiative in 2011 to drive down the cost of solar energy with aggressive research and development. Sandia Labs contributed significantly to two of these new reports:
From 2010 through the first half of 2015, the
installed capacity of solar photovoltaics (PV) connected to the U.S.
distribution system increased six fold, from approximately 1.8 GW to more than
11 GW. The rapid deployment of high penetrations of PV into the distribution
system has both highlighted challenges and demonstrated many successful
examples of integrating higher penetration levels than previously thought
possible. For example, one analysis
suggests that widespread use of advanced inverters and voltage management
solutions could double the electricity-distribution system’s hosting capacity
for distributed PV at low costs. Researchers analyzed challenges and identified
solutions and research needs to achieve much higher levels of solar integration
to achieve DOE’s SunShot targets. Contacts: Matthew
Reno,Matthew
Lave, and Robert
Broderick
The ability of concentrating solar power (CSP) to generate and store thermal energy when net demand is low and release that energy when demand is high—even when the sun is not shining—increases the electricity system’s ability to balance supply and demand over multiple time scales. Such flexibility becomes increasingly important as more variable-generation renewable energy is added to the system. For example, one analysis suggests that, under a 40% renewable portfolio standard in California, CSP with storage could provide more than twice as much value to the electricity system as variable-generation PV. Sandia researchers contributed analyses and defined technology improvement opportunities in the CSP report that can increase the performance and efficiency of components that will reduce the levelized costs of CSP. Contacts: Cliff Ho and Ken Armijo
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