NREL: Concentrating Solar Power Research

NREL has the following capabilities, which include software development, for modeling and analyzing a variety of concentrating solar power technologies:

A map providing a concentrating solar power siting analysis of the southwestern United States.

This map, developed by NREL, provides a concentrating solar power siting analysis of the southwestern United States.

Solar Resource Maps

For concentrating solar power, we have developed direct normal solar radiation maps for the U.S. Southwest. The maps, filtered by solar resource and land availability, identify the most economically suitable lands available for deployment of large-scale concentrating solar power plants. Development of these maps was supported by NREL's Geographic Information Systems (GIS) team.

Optical Analysis and Modeling

NREL has developed SolTRACE—optical modeling code software—to model solar power optical systems and analyze their performance. Researchers can even use SolTRACE for new, complex solar optical designs that previously couldn't be modeled.

Image produced by SolTRACE modeling software.

SolTRACE has been used to model hardware installed at NREL's High-Flux Solar Furnace. This particular model used a single tracking heliostat element, 25 primary concentrator elements, and a single secondary concentrator element.

Using SolTRACE, we can rapidly display and save data as scatter plots, flux maps, and performance graphs. It can model optical geometry as a series of stages composed of optical elements that possess certain attributes, such as shape, contour, and optical quality. SolTRACE can model any number of stages containing any number of different elements. It features an extensive variety of available shapes and contours.

Advanced Coatings Modeling and Analysis

Our experimental work in modeling and analyzing high-temperature solar selective coatings focuses on:

We employ Essential Macleod software to design and analyze optical thin films. It enables a user to:

The software also can evaluate many optical thin films—including WDM and DWDM filters—and handle a wide range of performance parameters from ultrafast to color.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

An image, developed by Computational Fluid Dynamic software, showing airflow over a multifaceted heliostat design.

This image, developed using Computational Fluid Dynamic software, shows airflow over a multifaceted heliostat design.

We use Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software to model flow and heat transfer applicable to the design of components for solar applications. FLUENT—an unstructured, finite volume-based solver—is a world-leading CFD code for a wide range of flow modeling applications. We have used CFD to model the following:

Systems Analysis

Concentrating Solar Power Systems Analysis

We perform analysis of parabolic trough systems based on NREL-developed systems model software—Excelergy. This simulation model allows a detailed performance, cost, and economic assessment of design and technology variations. The trough performance model has been validated by simulating the performance of existing parabolic trough solar power plants and comparing the modeled output results with actual plant operating data. Comparisons have shown that the Excelergy model output agrees closely with actual plant output.

Solar Advisor Model

NREL is developing a comprehensive, solar technology systems analysis model—the Solar Advisor Model—to support the implementation of the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Program's systems-driven approach to program planning. Use of the Solar Advisor Model software, together with technology and cost benchmarking, market penetration analysis, and other relevant considerations, will support the development of program priorities and direction, and the subsequent investment needed to support R&D activities.

Solar Advisor Model software will allow users to investigate the impact of variations in physical, cost, and financial parameters to better understand their impact on key figures of merit. Figures of merit related to the cost and performance of these systems include, but aren't limited to:

The Solar Advisor Model will ultimately allow for analysis of the full portfolio of technologies currently funded by the Solar Energy Technologies Program, including concentrating solar power, photovoltaic, and solar heating and lighting systems.

Concentrating Solar Deployment System (CSDS)

NREL has developed the Concentrating Solar Deployment System (CSDS) Model, which examines the market penetration of concentrating solar power under various research and development. and policy scenarios. This model captures the market issues of transmission and resource variability primarily by using a much higher level of geographic disaggregation than other models and a detailed analysis of ancillary services.

With a high level of geographic disaggregation, we can model geographic variations more directly within the model. The geographic disaggregation of solar resources allows CSDS to calculate transmission distances and the benefits of dispersed solar plants supplying power to a demand region.

CSDS is an extension to the pre-existing WinDS (Wind Deployment System) model and detailed information on the underlying model and structure on NREL's Energy Analysis Web site.