From the Division Chair

As we approach the annual ASES conference (May 14-19 in Denver, Colorado), I am especially excited about the robust content related to concentrating solar power.  With an astounding total of 22 full technical papers, 7 forums, 2 ignite presentations, a workshop, reception, and of course the annual CSP Division Meeting, there has never been more reason for this Division’s members to attend the annual conference.

The CSP Division Meeting will take place over breakfast on Tuesday from 7-8 am.  At this meeting we will review the year’s activity and generate ideas for the upcoming year.  We want to hear your ideas!

I want to extend a special invitation to all of you to attend the CSP Reception at 5:45 pm on Monday, May 14.  This is a chance for us to meet informally face to face, and lift a glass to the success of the CSP industry.  Please email Karen.McInnes@SkyFuel.com to receive an invitation.

For those of you just getting started in CSP, I encourage you to sign up for the Concentrating Solar Power Fundamentals Workshop for the bargain price of $50.  This workshop (8-12 Thursday, May 17) will feature top notch instruction by experts Andrew McMahan and David Kearney.

….and so much more!  See below for a simplified list, or google “CSP ASES” and follow the link to a detailed list.

I look forward to meeting many of you there,

Alison Mason, SkyFuel, Inc.

CSP Division Represents at WREF

Monday, May 14: 

10:30am-11:45am- CSP Optical Analysis

1:15pm-2:30pm- CSP Applications 1

2:45pm – 4:00pm- CSP Applications 2

4:15pm – 5:30pm- CSP FORUM – National Lab CSP Testing Capabilities

5:45pm – 7:00pm- Concentrating Solar Power Reception – by invitation

Tuesday, May 15:

7:00am – 8:00am- ASES CSP Division Meeting

10:30am – 11:45am- CSP FORUM – The Future of Concentrating Solar Power in a Challenging Economic Climate

Wednesday, May 16:

8:30am-10:00am- PLENARY: Address by Santiago Seage, CEO of Abengoa Solar

10:30am – 11:45am- CSP FORUM – The Solar Technology Acceleration Center (SolarTAC) – Current Status, Future Plans and Opportunities

2:45pm – 4:00pm- CSP FORUM – Meeting the Dual Goal of Energy Access and Sustainability – CSP Deployment in Developing Countries

4:15pm – 5:30pm- CSP FORUM – Concentrating Solar Power Around the World

Thursday, May 17:

8:00 am – 12:00 pm- CSP WORKSHOP – Concentrating Solar Power Fundamentals

10:30am – 11:45am- WREN FORUM

2:45pm – 4:00pm- CSP Ignite Session

Elections Approaching 

CSP Division, that is….This year we will be electing a new leadership for the CSP Division – Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Newsletter Editor.  The division leadership serves as a funnel point for tapping the technical expertise of the division members.  It requires on average 5 hours of time per month.

Activities this year have included organizing a CSP webinar, recruiting papers and other content for the annual conference, and producing a CSP Primer for the ASES website.  We use a LinkedIn Group (ASES CSP Division Core) to facilitate communication amongst our most active members.

Our bylaws require us to form a nominating committee to solicit nominees and publicize the election, which will be conducted by email soon after the annual conference.

If you would like to participate on the nominating committee, or nominate someone to run, please email Karen.McInnes@SkyFuel.com.

Meet Me at the Forum

CSP FORUM – The Future of Concentrating Solar Power in a Challenging Economic Climate

Tuesday,10:30 – 11:45am, Moderator: Dr. Chuck Kutscher, NREL

The Concentrating Solar Power industry is facing challenging times due to the economic downturn as well as lower prices of photovoltaics and natural gas. Recent studies have shown that the CSP with thermal storage can help variable renewable sources like PV and wind achieve large grid penetration. The question is how will CSP continue to penetrate the market in the near-term? The panel will begin with a discussion of the challenges and then we will here from different industry representatives how they plan to meet these challenges.

CSP FORUM – Meeting the Dual Goal of Energy Access and Sustainability – CSP Deployment in Developing Countries

Wednesday, 2:45 – 4:00pm, Moderator: Dr. Natalia Kulichenko-Lotz, World Bank

The Forum will present outcomes of and major lessons learned from design and development of RE (in general) and CSP projects (in particular) in those developing countries that are among the leaders in implementing domestic renewable energy policies. The forum will discuss challenges and specifics of planning and delivering RE projects in a developing country setting, and the role of government policies to reduce risks and support the private sector engagement.

CSP FORUM – CSP Around the World

Wednesday, 4:15 – 5:30pm, Moderator: Alison Mason, SkyFuel, Inc.

Are you intrigued with the development of the global Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) market?  This session will feature experts from the most active regions in CSP and will send you away with a fresh and relevant understanding of how this exciting market is taking off.

Thermal Energy Storage for Concentrating Solar Power

Submitted by R. Panneer Selvam, Vice Chairman for ASES CSP Division & Womble Professor of Computational Mechanics, University of Arkansas, email: rps@uark.edu

Renewable energy has been becoming an attractive and competitive energy source for industrial and household use. In big solar power plants continuous production of renewable energy is a challenge due to change in weather or meeting the variable demand of the power plant. In addition, the solar power plants are not utilized more than 10 or 12 hours because the sun is not available. Thermal energy storage provides a reasonable solution to tackle the above problems. There are three major techniques to store thermal energy. One of them is sensible heat storage technique where in thermal energy is stored by heating the solid or liquid medium and then take the heat to run the power plant. Currently molten salt is used as a medium to store thermal energy. Since energy is a competitive business DOE is interested in developing technologies that can reduce the cost of thermal energy storage. In this regard University of Arkansas is doing research with the support of DOE to store thermal energy in concrete up to temperatures of 600 ° C for the last two years. This work is proposed because the media cost of concrete is $1 kwht when molten salt is $3.7/kwht. Normal concrete breaks into pieces after 200 to 300 ° C. Prof. Micah Hale and his group developed concretes that can withstand temperatures more than 600° C. Using this concrete Selvam and his group tested the performance of the concrete when it is heated up to 500° C. The testing setup is shown in Figure 1. Figure 2 shows how normal concrete cylinder breaks into pieces when it is heated in an oven and Figure 3 shows the performance when it is heated using molten salt. Figure shows the performance of the proposed high performance concrete. There were only minor cracks when the temperature went beyond 500 ° C. Further testing and research is going on in storing thermal energy at the University of Arkansas. The thermal energy storage technique is also proposed for melting snow on pavements and other applications.

CSP Conference Schedule

Solar Power Mexico 2012, May 15-16, Mexico City: The Solar Power Mexico conference and exhibition aims for the first time to unite key international players in this growing industry to drive forward government support, promote financial backing and provide a platform for discussion on how the Mexican solar industry can become a global market leader.

MENASOL 2012, May 16 -17, Abu Dhabi: Organized by CSP Today, this is the premier solar meeting place for the Middle East and North Africa region. Now in its 4th year, it provides the ultimate learning & industry networking experience for the MENA solar industry.

Solar Maghreb 2012, May 22-23, Casablanca: The most established solar congress focusing on solar power development in North Africa. After dramatic changes in the region over the past year, Solar Maghreb will welcome official delegations from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt & Libya to formulate the next steps for the region’s solar market. With a combination of presentations, roundtable working groups, interactive discussion sessions and networking evenings, join the most established meeting to focus exclusively on the North African solar industry.

2^nd CSP Optimization Summit, June 5-6, Madrid, Spain: The optimization of new and existing CSP plants is fast becoming the most important issue for the progression of the industry, and this conference will give you crucial strategies and insight from the biggest international CSP developers, EPCs & service providers.

Solar South Africa 2012, June 19-20, Johannesburg: Whether you’re a developer looking for investment and local partnership opportunities, or an investor seeking new prospects in the country, Solar South Africa 2012 is the ideal forum to get up-to-date with the latest industry news and developments, network with your peers and make the contacts you need to get ahead in this exciting new market.

CSP Today USA 2012, June 27-28, Las Vegas, USA: CSP Today USA is the premier Concentrated Solar Thermal Power meeting place and in its 6th edition it will give you the ultimate CSP learning & industry networking experience. With over 600 top attendees, this is by far the biggest, best, and most influential CSP industry event in North America.

About Our Organization

ASES Technical Divisions exist to bring together members with similar interests in order to exchange information and ensure that ASES programs and publications are technically accurate. The CSP Division supports the deployment of concentrating solar power systems for utility‐scale solar electric power. These are systems which use concentrated sunlight to create and store solar thermal energy for the purpose of driving a heat engine to produce electric power.  Please join us in the LinkedIn group ASES CSP Division Core.

The CEW leadership:

• Veera Gude: Chair and BOD representative (gudevg@gmail.com, Ph. 662.325.0345)
• Daniel Simon: Vice-chair/Secretary/Treasurer (danielisimon@yahoo.com, Ph. 773.271.9120)
• Paulette Middleton: ASES Board Liaison
• Nate Mitten: Immediate Past-Chair
• Tom Cowing: Newsletter Editor (t.cowing@comcast.net, Ph. 303.877.6317)

In the last year, Dr. Veera Gude and Daniel Simon have joined the CEWD Board of Directors. Many thanks to Nate Mitten, Mike Dray, Brian Vick and Steve Sargent for their years of service on the CEWD Board!

Also, the position of Secretary/Treasurer is currently open and being covered by Daniel. This is potentially another means by which you can actively participate in your Division’s activities! Creating  separate Secretary and Treasurer positions are also under consideration and will be on the agenda at our annual Division meeting.  

 World Renewable Energy Forum (WREF) 2012

The CEWD is preparing to host a forum at the upcoming World Renewable Energy Forum to be held from May 13-17 in Denver, Colorado conference. Our forum is titled “Energy – Water Nexus: An International Perspective” and will be on Monday, May 14^th from 10:30 am to 11:45 am.

We have assembled an international list of prominent speakers for the forum including:

• Dr. Robin Newmark (NREL, USA)
• Prof. Soteris Kalogirou (University of Cyprus, Cyprus)
• Prof. Ahmad Houri (Lebanese-American University, Lebanon)
• Stacy Tellinghuisen (Western Resource Advocates, USA)

See below for further presentation information and speakers’ bios.

We will also be conducting the CEWD annual meeting from 7:00 am to 8:00 am on Tuesday, May 15^th in Mile High Ballroom 4e. The agenda for that meeting will be made available before the conference.

If you are planning to attend WREF 2012, we encourage you to attend the Division annual meeting in person. You will also be able to participate via conference call (details forthcoming).

The CEWD is also planning an informal get-together in downtown Denver from 6-8 pm the evening of Monday, May 14^th (details forthcoming).

Several members of the CEWD will also be presenting during the conference, including Veera and Daniel (check the WREF 2012 program conference/).

As a relatively new Division, we are actively soliciting your active participation whether you are from the private or public sector, including academia (students too!). We also ask that you look to the ASES website and LinkedIn professional network http://www.linkedin.com/ as we expand our presence and functionality directed to ASES activities and as a resource portal to the many related organizations and activities associated with the energy – water nexus.

You are the subject matter experts that ASES and the CEWD want to support.

For example, a previous Division newsletter featured a citrus grower in California that used the largest PV powered irrigation system in the world at the time http://www.seleyranches.com/news.htm. Now, with our LinkedIn presence, we can potentially expand our outreach efforts dramatically, but we will need material and your input!

 Newsletter Research Update from CEWD member Daniel Simon

In February 2012 a group of Northwestern University students, called Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW), contacted Daniel Simon about using his solar distiller design for a project to improve drinking water in a town in northern Chile.  This agricultural community suffers because their water contains very high concentrations of boron; their water also contains elevated levels of arsenic.  Both pollutants would be removed by the physical process of distillation.  (For more details about the project or to contribute visit http://esw.mccormick.northwestern.edu/chile.php).  The ESW students asked Mr. Simon to share the essential elements of the distiller design, in order that they might be able to use/adapt the design for the community they plan to assist.  He arranged to meet with the ESW students and hold a show and tell with a working prototype.  The students were excited about adopting the design, although they wanted to test the solar distiller to ensure it performed as expected.  Mr. Simon donated the working prototype to the project for the students to use as they see fit.

Mr. Simon developed the solar water distiller which uses a flexible mylar mirror to focus sunlight onto a two piece distilling chamber (see photo), capable of producing 1 gallon of distilled water per day.  Since the mirror frame can be disassembled and the mirror rolled up like a poster, the new distiller is suitable for compact transportation.  The focused sunlight heats the water in the shallow pan (black) until it evaporates, and the cover (clear plastic) captures and condenses the evaporated water.  The main factor limiting distillate production is that the condenser overheats (i.e. the mirror is collecting more heat onto the evaporator than the condenser can efficiently shed.  In experiments where the condensing cover was removed, the water evaporated at a faster rate (2.5 times) than the rate of production with the condenser in place.   Mr. Simon suggested the ESW students incorporate a chimney and/or add thermal mass to the condenser portion of the device to improve the rate of distillation.

CEWD Forum “Energy – Water Nexus: An International Perspective”

Presentation title: “Solar Desalination Systems”

By Prof. Soteris Kalogirou

Many countries of the world are facing serious water shortage problems. One possible way to alleviate these problems is by using seawater desalination systems. All desalination processes however are very energy demanding and unless renewable sources of energy are employed could create other more serious problems related to the environment. Among other renewable energy systems, the solar powered ones seems to be the most viable, so this presentation shows a review of these systems as well as the relation between energy to water.

Biography

Dr. Soteris Kalogirou is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Sciences and Engineering of the Cyprus University of Technology. He received his Ph.D. on solar desalination from the University of Glamorgan, UK in 1995. In June 2011 he received from the same university the title of D.Sc. For more than 30 years, he is actively involved in research in the area of solar energy including solar desalination. He has 27 books and book contributions and published 230 papers; 99 in international scientific journals and 131 in refereed conference proceedings. He is Executive Editor of Energy, Associate Editor of Renewable Energy and Editorial Board Member of another eleven journals. He is the author of the book Solar Energy Engineering: Processes and Systems, published by Academic Press of Elsevier. He is a member of many institutions and societies including World Renewable Energy Network (WREN) and the International Solar Energy Society (ISES).

Presentation title: “Implications of future energy choices in the energy-water-land nexus”

By Dr. Robin Newmark; Jordan Macknick, Garvin Heath, Sean Ong, Paul Denholm, Robert Margolis, Billy Roberts.

Renewable energy may play an important role in meeting the demands of the energy-water-land nexus.  Insights gained from scenario studies regarding the trade-offs in terms of water and land use for energy as compared to other competing needs in the U.S. can inform decisions in other regions. A growing population will require additional land for crop and livestock production; this population will also require additional sources of energy. While some renewable technology configurations can utilize more water than conventionally grown crops, other renewables utilize no water during operations, and their deployment could reduce stress on water resources.  Some renewable energy technologies have a low energy density and can have large land use requirements. Co-locating agriculture and renewable energy production can mitigate this concern.  Under various future scenarios governing energy and water policies, we analyze the implications of increasing food, energy, land-use, and water demands on the U.S.

Biography

Dr. Robin L. Newmark is Director of the Strategic Energy Analysis Center (SEAC) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Energy analysis conducted at SEAC focuses on technology, market, policy and sustainability.  Analyses cover a broad range, from life-cycle assessments of individual renewable energy technologies to national-level electricity system capacity expansion impacts of energy policies to fuels and vehicle systems to web-based renewable energy analysis applications. The analyses aim to understand the interaction of policy, technology, markets and their applications. Prior to joining NREL, Dr. Newmark was at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where her research focused primarily on energy, environment and national security. In recent years, she has led or contributed to programs involving energy, climate and water issues, including the interdependence of water and energy systems; one example is a water initiative with components addressing the impacts of climate change on water resources, assessing denitrification in agricultural regions, and the development of energy-efficient, selective water treatment technologies.  Dr. Newmark is an active member of the multi-national laboratory Energy-Water Nexus working group, the World Resources Institute Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) Stakeholder Group and the U.S. – China Expert CCS Steering Committee. She is an author of over 50 papers, reports and patents, a Fellow of both the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the Center of Integrated Water Research at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Dr. Newmark holds a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was selected Phi Beta Kappa, a M.S. from the University of California at Santa Cruz, an M.Phil and a Ph.D from Columbia University.

Presentation title: “Options for Water Use in Agriculture or Energy”

By Dr. Ahmad Houri

Although the use of water for hydropower does not actually “consume” water, it alters the height at which it exists.  In a water poor region like the Middle East, the location and altitude of fresh water may carry a specific significance that might overweigh the benefits of hydropower.  The presentation will focus on a case study where the major agricultural land exists at a higher altitude.  Accordingly, the height loss associated with hydropower generation results in reduced agricultural productivity.

Biography:

Dr. Ahmad Houri is an associate professor at the Lebanese American University and the ex-president of the Lebanese Solar Energy Society.  He is currently a board member of ISES representing small sections.  He is the EuroArab Chair of Renewable Energy (2009) and the Second Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab Organization for Renewable Energy.  He has several publications dealing with environmental issues, specifically within the fields of water quality and renewable energy. His studies focus on the technical and economic feasibility of the use of renewable energy in various settings.  He has served as a consultant for various national and international organizations.

Presentation title: “Mitigating Energy-Water Challenges: Solutions and Management Strategies from the Interior West”

By Stacy Tellinghuisen

In recent years, western energy and water demands have risen precipitously. As population growth continues and climate change reduces available water supplies, the challenge of meeting these demands and protecting valuable natural resources will intensify. For example, proposed new water supply projects would, if built, impose a large new energy burden. In contrast, urban water conservation, recycled water, and flexible leasing arrangements can meet growing urban water demands and often save energy. Similarly, the transition to cleaner sources of energy and energy efficiency could create “new” water supplies, easing strained supplies. This presentation outlines the energy-water challenges in the Interior West, as well as strategies that utilities, government agencies, and others have pursued in an effort to minimize future energy-water conflicts and protect the West’s natural resources.

Biography:

Stacy Tellinghuisen is a Senior Energy/Water Policy Analyst for Western Resource Advocates, a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to protecting the West’s water, land, and air. Stacy works on both sides of the energy/water nexus, researching the impacts of energy development on water resources and the energy impacts of new and existing water supplies. Before joining Western Resource Advocates, she was an energy/water analyst for the California Sustainability Alliance, where she researched the energy intensity of Southern California’s water supplies. Stacy has worked on water issues for the City of Moab, Utah, and taught natural history to school groups in parks throughout California and Utah. She received a Master of Environmental Science and Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College.

Research Brief

Solar Desalination Systems

Soteris A. Kalogirou

Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering,

Cyprus University of Technology, P. O. Box 50329, 3603Limassol, Cyprus

Tel. +357-2500-2621, Fax. +357-2500-2637, Email: Soteris.kalogirou@cut.ac.cy

Many countries of the world are facing serious water shortage problems. These are due to the population explosion, industrial activities, pollution of fresh water resources and uneven distribution of the fresh water supplies in the world. One possible way to alleviate these problems is by using seawater desalination systems. All desalination processes however are energy demanding and unless renewable sources of energy are employed could create other more serious problems related to the environment. In 2010, the installed desalination capacity reached 60 million m³/day, which require 495 million tons of oil per year. Among other renewable energy systems, the solar powered ones seem to be the most promising. Possible systems that can be used are the phase change processes in which the simple solar stills, multi-stage flash (MSF), multiple effect distillation (MED) and vapour compression (VC) systems belong, and the single phase or membrane processes in which reverse osmosis (RO) and electrodialysis (ED) belong.

Perhaps the most studied system is the solar still. This uses the greenhouse effect to evaporate seawater. In its basic shape, it consists of a black basin, in which a constant amount of seawater is enclosed typically in a capital lambda “Λ”‑shaped glass envelope, with many variations of the basic shape tried by various researchers. The sun’s rays passing through the glass roof are absorbed by the blackened bottom of the basin and by the seawater which is heated, to increase its vapor pressure. The resultant water vapor rises up and condensed on the underside of the glass covers which are relatively cold and runs down into troughs as distilled water.

MSF and MED processes consist of a set of effects or stages which are at successively decreasing temperature and pressure. MSF process is based on the generation of vapor from seawater due to a sudden pressure reduction when seawater enters a chamber which is under vacuum. The process is repeated stage by stage at successively decreasing pressure. This process requires an external steam supply, normally at a temperature around 100°C, which can easily be produced from solar thermal systems. The maximum temperature is limited by the salt concentration to avoid scaling and this maximum limits the performance of the process. In MED, vapors are generated due to the absorption of thermal energy by the seawater. The steam generated in one effect is able to heat the salt solution in the next effect because the next effect is at a lower temperature and pressure. MED plants normally use an external steam supply at a temperature of about 70°C. The steam required can also be produced from solar systems. In thermal VC and mechanical VC, after the initial vapor is generated from the seawater, it is thermally or mechanically compressed to generate additional production.

The RO requires electricity or shaft power to drive the pump that increases the pressure of the seawater. The required pressure depends on the salt concentration of seawater and it is normally around 70 bars. ED also requires electricity for the ionization of water, which is cleaned by using suitable membranes located at the two appositively charged electrodes. RO process represents more than 88% of membrane processes production. In both systems the required power can be supplied with photovoltaics.

A new perspective in this area is the combination of solar desalination with concentrating solar power systems. In countries with water shortage problems these are usually located close to the sea, so seawater is readily available and can produce either electricity, fresh water or both, according to the needs at competitive prices.

Hi All,

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the awesome weather all over the country. Global warming? Seems like this is the new norm. The weather here in New Mexico has been amazing and if we don’t have a frost I’ll get peaches and apricots this year.

Welcome to the first ASES Solar Electric Division (SED) Newsletter of 2012. The newsletter is a way for all of us to see what is happening within our community. I will regularly ask you for articles. The response with determine how often we send out a newsletter. ASES has many divisions. We are the Solar Electric Division. If your work is more related to wind or solar thermal, that would be a better venue to show off your work. I know we have a lot of talent in this group so I’m looking forward to contributions. If you are working on a technical or humanitarian project, these are perfect to share with others in the SED.

I could also use some bloggers. Any of you that attend other conferences or events regularly in your own community, in other states or countries, please send me updates and information. Do you think others are not interested? I beg to differ. There is so much going on that it would be great to tie some of those events to people in the SED. For instance, as I said, I live in New Mexico, Albuquerque to be exact. We currently have a Governor and Mayor who do not have RE on the top of their “to do” list. Instead of being frustrated, which I am, I am trying to get some community solar projects started. It’s slow because I have a full time job and am working on a second master’s degree, but I’ll get there. I’m trying to model what I’m doing in my city after the campaign that was carried out in Portland Oregon. They even created a guide on how to do it. I think I may have my first (guinea pig, I mean test) neighborhood. Actually, I’m excited and I’m moving forward. If others have any insight or guidance they want to share, email me at mbrown@sandia.gov. I’ve been teaching hands-on PV classes for about 15 years and somehow I’ll work that into this project. Yup, one person, one community, will it make a difference? I certainly hope so. Will it inspire others? I hope so also.

The ASES Annual Conference in Denver is coming up May 13-17. I hope you are coming.

PLEASE: Come to the SED Annual Meeting on Tuesday May 15 at 7:00 am. It is at the Convention Center and breakfast is free.

This is your chance to provide input to ASES’ largest division. There are always opportunities to help or serve ASES. Please join us. Last year the room was overflowing. We hope for the same again this year. Mark your calendar!

The SED has three forums. These are:

• Strategic Distributed Generated Values from Photovoltaics, Wednesday May 16 at 4:15 pm
• AC Micro Inverters for PV Technology Shoot-Off, Thursday May 17 at 1:15 pm. This is back to back with
• DC-to-DC Converter / Optimizer PV Technology Shoot-Off, Thursday May 17 at 2:45 pm

I’m also hosting the Women in Solar luncheon on Wed May 16 from 11:45 am to 1:15 pm. This is to inspire women to be more technically involved in the field. It is also a time to network and be even more inspired. The speakers this year are an awesome educator Susy Elliston and the Women in Solar award winner. Who is it? Come and find out! It is for women in solar but open to all. Yes, it is an extra fee but worth it. This one usually sells out so get your tickets early.

Have a great spring and see you in Denver,

-Marlene-

The world’s first solar powered nation

Pranay Kar, Powersmart Solar

The South Pacific nation of Tokleau will soon become the first country in the world to have all its electricity needs met by solar power. Tokelau is made up of three tropical atolls (Fakaofo, Nukunonu, and Atafu) in the South Pacific Ocean. The atolls have a total land area of 10km2 and a population of approximately 1,500 people.

Powersmart Solar has recently signed on as the lead contractor for the Tokelau Renewable Energy Project. Starting in April 2012, the project will replace the diesel electricity systems currently operating on each of the islands with solar power systems and battery storage. The solar power systems will enable Tokelau to be the first country to meet 100% of their climate change obligations as well as the first 100% solar powered nation on earth.

At present the diesel generators burn around 200 litres of fuel daily and provide only 15-18 hours of electricity each day. The installation of 4,032 solar panels (one megawatt of solar) and batteries across the three atolls will eliminate diesel fuel use and provide consistent high quality electricity. The original tender specification called for the solar systems to supply 90% of Tokelau’s electricity demand.

Through creative design, project management methodology, and sheer scale Powersmart Solar will be installing solar systems capable of providing 150% of current electricity demand allowing the Tokelauans to expand their electricity use without increasing diesel use.

Powersmart Solar is uniquely experienced in designing solar power systems for harsh and remote environments and has taken special care to design a robust system suitable for tropical atolls. The system is designed with respect to the high ambient temperatures, salt-laden air, and risk of cyclones and/or flooding.

For this high-profile project, Powersmart Solar has partnered with the highly regarded energy consulting firm IT Power. Through this partnership Powersmart has access to IT Power’s extensive experience over ten years of successfully delivering renewable energy projects in the Pacific region.

You can check the Powersmart Solar website (powersmartsolar.co.nz/) for pictures and news of these beautiful islands and people as the project gets underway this year.

Solar – The Safest Investment Available Today!

Tom Ferraro, Solar & More

If you’re like me, the recent performance of stock, bonds, real estate and some other so-called “safe” investments have been playing havoc with my tolerance for risk. Our 401k has performed like a yoyo since our financial markets crashed back in 2008 and actually, more like deadweight!

Since then, I’ve moved most of my investments into low return but “safe” money markets and certificates of deposits, lowering my returns down to what I call “why bother” rates. The returns promised by investment houses just don’t materialize any more unless you’re willing to take on high risk.

But there is an option not very well understood…a way to diversify your investment portfolio while garnering double digit returns. Known to only a select few, a solar photovoltaic (PV) system can return between 13-20% on your investment. Here’s how it works.

The cost of a typical solar PV system in New Jersey is averaging about $30,000. First, right off the top, you’re eligible for a 30% Federal Tax Credit, or in this case $9,000. So now you’re down to an adjusted cost of $21,000. A typical $30,000 system would probably reduce your electric bill about $1,300 in the first year. And through a New Jersey incentive program called SRECs (Solar Renewable Energy Certificates), you’d generate another $2,000 per year in income. This results in a total annual cash flow of $3,300, or a simple Return on Investment of over 15%. A payback on this investment would come out to 6.4 years on an investment that will last for at least 25, and probably 30 – 40 years.

With this cash outlay, you’ll recover about 40%, or $12,000 in the first year alone. And there are programs to help you get to the end of the first year without any out of pocket outlays. In effect, buy a $30,000 solar system and only pay $18,000…after the end of the first year!

So, the question you have to ask your investment advisor is, can you get me 15% on an investment whose principle can’t go down without affected my current cash flow? The answer is yes…if you invest in solar!

The author may be reached via his website: www.solarnmorestore.com

World Renewable Energy Forum

Denver, Colorado, Ma 13-17, 2012 www.wref2012.org

For the very first time, the American Solar Energy Society’s National Solar Conference will be held under the same roof with the biennial World Renewable Energy Congress. The combined event is the World Renewable Energy Forum 2012. The conference will draw prominent speakers and technical presentations from universities, renewable energy laboratories, installations and industries around the world. WREF 2012 will examine how renewable energy technologies address the world’s economic, environmental and security challenges at every scale, from off-grid villages to gigawatt power plants.

Featured speakers include Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, US Department of Energy

The World Renewable Energy Network (WREN) and the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) have joined forces to present the World Renewable Energy Forum (WREF). The conference will be held May 13 -17 in Denver, Colorado. Registration is currently open and early bird rates end April 13. Conference details can be found at www.wref2012.org. Sign up now for access to the world’s top renewable energy experts. Researchers from Bangladesh, China, Korea, Iran and the Unites States have submitted abstracts for technical papers to be delivered at the conference.

This international event on renewable energy technologies will address the world’s economic, environmental and security challenges at every scale, from off-grid villages to gigawatt power plants. With over 200 sessions scheduled the conference has something for everybody. Early Bird registration ends April 13. Register at conference/attend/.

WREF 2012 is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) and the International Solar Energy Society (ISES).

RAD Members in the News

The current Resource Application Division co-Chair, University of San Diego (UCSD) Assistant Professor and California Solar Collaborative co-Director Dr Jan Kleissl’s research group was recently recognized by President Barack Obama for his Solar Forecasting contributions at the largest PV facility in the United States, Copper Mountain Solar 1. 2012/03/obama-visits-americas-largest-pv-array/

Dr Kleissl and his colleagues at the Jacobs School of Engineering UCSD received a $1.5 million grant from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) earlier this year. The grant funds research to refine forecasting methods and work with San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) to help integrate solar power into the energy grid. Kleissl is the principal investigator on the grant with Carlos Coimbra, also a professor of environmental engineering at UCSD. Their work could generate significant savings for utility companies and increase the wide spread penetration of Solar technology. The two researchers and their teams will work together to develop comprehensive forecast models that predict solar power output, based on the solar resource viewed through a sky imager.

Congratulation Dr Kleissl!

Letter from the Current ASES RAD Chair

I invite you to attend the Resource Application Division meeting during the WREF 2012 conference, Wednesday May 16 at 7:00 AM, breakfast will be served. The RAD group needs your participation more than ever noting it’s time to elect new blood into the Division. The ASES Technical Divisions are one of the core components contributing to the long term success of ASES. It has been a wonderful experience taking a two year ride along with this storied legacy. The once distant phrase grid parity is on the horizon and the solar industries need for accurate solar resource data has never been stronger. The Solar measurement & forecasting knowledge base contained within the Resource Application Division’s 600+ members is second to no other such organization in the United States.

2012 is an election year so the Resource Application Division will be taking nominations for the following positions: Chair, Co-Chair, Secretary, Newsletter Editor, and Technical Reviewer. Please come to the RAD meeting prepared to nominate qualified RAD members with the nominees full name, email, phone number, and employer. If you cannot make the Division meeting during WREF 2012 please email nominations to Justin.robinson@drakerlabs.com by June 15, 2012. Those members eager to step up and take on the challenge make sure your fellow RAD members know you are ready.

I thank all of you who have been involved with the Resource Application Division over the past two years. It is rare in this day and age to find highly successful individuals willing to donate time and effort towards something for no monetary gain. In particular I would like to recognize Jan Kleissl, James Bing, Frank Vignola, and Dave Renne. All of you went above and beyond, thank you for your strong desire to see ASES and the Resource Application Division live on. I commend you, keep up the good work!

I would like to take this opportunity to recognize two Solar Resource Assessment pioneers and wish them the best of luck with retirement. Thank you Daryl Myers and David Renee, NREL will not be the same without you.

Sincerely,

Justin Robinson, ASES RAD Chair Program Manager Data Acquisition, Draker Labs Inc.

Distribution System Scale Solar Monitoring & Forecasting at SMUD

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), the country’s 6th largest publicly owned utility has teamed with NEO Virtus Engineering (NEO), a solar engineering, consulting and monitoring provider, to deploy a service- territory wide solar monitoring network for validating solar forecasting models. Thanks to a grant from the California Public Utilities Commission, under their California Solar Initiative RD&D program, SMUD has initiated a number of projects related to integrating high penetrations of solar PV.

As solar penetrations increase rapidly, SMUD and utilities around the country have begun to focus on questions of how the variability of those systems and the industry’s ability to forecast their output will impact other resources on their system. Forecasting and resource measurement are growing rapidly both within utilities and in the private sector. To better understand the state of forecasting, variability, and future impacts to our system, SMUD and NEO Virtus Engineering have deployed a network of 71 solar monitoring devices covering most of SMUD’s 2330 square kilometer service territory. The project started in June, 2010 and will continue for 2 years. The devices were installed to validate solar forecasts and solar resource variability for high penetrations of solar on SMUD’s grid. Solar monitoring began in May of 2011 and will last for at least 14 months. This study will provide statistical analysis of solar radiation variability across Sacramento County.

REGIONAL IRRADIANCE GROUND TRUTH DATA SET

The purpose of the grant from the CPUC in 2010 was to develop and deploy hardware and software tools to model and mitigate impacts of high penetrations of PV on the distribution network. As part of this research and to validate forecast accuracy, irradiance measurements are being made using a combination of eight RSRs (primary stations) and sixty six global horizontal (GHI) measurements systems (secondary stations). This combination of primary and secondary monitoring stations has been deployed on the same five kilometer square grid as used by the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) for their skycover (cloud cover) forecasts. The monitored area spans almost 1775 square kilometers within SMUD’s service territory. All secondary stations take measurements every two seconds and record one minute averages. Data is being retrieved nightly. At each download the logger station clocks are synchronized with the server clock, which is kept at GMT, if difference between logger time and the server is greater than 3 seconds. The monitoring stations have been located in the “nominal centroid” of each 25 square kilometer NDFD cell.

The intent of the data set is to provide body of ground truth data covering a geographic area of a size which could incorporate both distributed generation, of the residential and commercial scale, as well as central PV plant generation of the utility scale, to validate emerging irradiance forecast methodologies. A primary deliverable of this research will be the database of GHI and temperature measurements from the secondary stations and DNI, DHI, GHI and temperature from the primary stations.

IRRADIANCE DATA QUALITY MANAGEMENT

The 5km grid spacing of the measurement network in this project was designed to match the geographic spacing of the National Digital Forecast Database grid. The secondary stations which monitor global horizontal irradiance and ambient temperature have been installed as close as possible to the centroids of the NDFD grid cells. This placement was made possible by using SMUD utility poles as installation locations. With nearly 140,000 distribution poles in the service territory, suitable locations near NDFD grid cell centroids were identified for nearly all grid cells. The population of poles was surveyed to eliminate those with significant shading obstructions and the nearest pole to the centroid was selected. Specific pole selection was done by visually inspecting candidate poles near a centroid to determine whether there were any shading obstructions, and whether there was adequate climbing space on another quadrant of the pole for SMUD linemen. Portions of SMUD’s service territory are in rural areas and in some cases the density of poles did not permit placement close to the centroids. In other cases undergrounded utilities, which now make up nearly 65% of SMUD’s distribution circuit miles meant there were relatively few poles in certain urban areas. In all, 59 of the units are within 500m or less of the centroids. However of the remaining 12 units, five are over 1km from the centroids.

Near Field Shading & Data Filtering

In addition to the issue of proximity to the NDFD grid centroids the experimental design has other practical limitations and compromises. To eliminate shading, mounting the devices on the tops of the distribution poles would have been ideal. However, access to the tops of the poles is difficult and would have required specialized equipment and trained crews, increasing the safety risks and costs of the installation significantly. Instead, as a compromise, the monitoring units were located at the approximate midpoint of the poles. Consequently during portions of the year when the solar zenith angle is relatively small the overhead wires and cross arms briefly cast shadows on the pyranometer. These shadow events present as very discrete and repeatable anomalies on clear sky days, however through the year they move in somewhat difficult to predict patterns depending on the nature of the specific shade element. For instance, some shade elements are distribution wires with differing levels of tautness, where the sun crosses at a different point on the wire each day, creating shifts in time and slight shifts in shade width as the relative distance of the shade object changes throughout the seasons.

Any dips that go below the boundary are identified as shadows. The algorithm counts out the number of shadows that occur on the clear days. Sometimes the program with count a little higher or lower than the correct number shadows, in order to compensate, the algorithm will look at the all the occurring shadows for a station and take the most occurring number of dips for reference. The algorithm then will find the closest clear day to a series of cloudy days. It uses that clear day as a reference point for removing shadows from the cloudy days.

The algorithm uses a similar triangles method to pinpoint the predicted locations of the shadows on cloudy days. Due to the complexity involved with developing a complete 3-D model of each individual site, a simple 2D approach was used. Taking conservative approach, three minutes worth of data was removed from each side of the identified shadow to make sure that the complete shadow was removed. A resulting edit of a slightly cloudy day can be viewed in Figure 6. Notice that the gaps are larger than in the previous clear day because of the buffering. SMUD will continue to develop algorithms to minimize the amount of lost data associated with these shade objects, however for this analysis, the small buffer approach is adequate.

Sensor Error and System Wide Calibration

All of the pyranometers used in this project were Licor 200SZ devices. All were new when deployed and their 2 year calibration spanned the term of the project. However a limitation of the experimental design is the inability to clean the pyranometers once they are installed on the poles. To address this issue four Eppley Precision Spectral Pyranometers (PSP) were installed on four of the RSR primary stations. The four PSPs are located approximately in the four compass points of the map of the monitored area.

Prior to installation all four of the PSPs were calibrated in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) Broadband Outdoor Radiometer Calibration (BORCAL) process1.

Before publishing the complete dataset we will develop a correction procedure using the PSP data. The procedure will:

• Locate a very clear sky day in the data record
• Based upon BORCAL information correct known measurement errors inherent in the PSPs
• Average the BORCAL corrected clear sky measurements from the four PSPs and take the averaged value as our reference
• Compare the PSP average to each of the 66 GHI values at solar noon and several other points in the day and derive a scale factor which will bring the GHI into agreement with the corrected PSPs
• “Adjust” the data set for each GHI unit using the scale factors until the next clear sky day which follows the next scheduled cleaning of the PSPs
• Provide the raw secondary station GHI data, the raw PSP data as well as the BORCAL PSP corrections

CONCLUSION

The deployment of 71 irradiance sensors covering SMUD’s service territory has allowed a unique opportunity for researchers to validate a variety of solar forecasting approaches over a previously unavailable large geographic area. The pole-mounted sensors allowed for deployment in a grid-like pattern to closely align with the NDFD weather forecast grid. Further, they provided a secure location for the devices to operate autonomously with remote cell-modem based data collection. However, they also presented unique challenges in that there are shade objects present at each location resulting from distribution wires, cross-arms, and trees or buildings. Two methods for eliminating these shade objects were developed, and further work in refinement of automated methods continue to ensure the maximum amount of this data is usable. These data sets, both primary and secondary, in both raw and filtered forms, will be made available for download to the research community in the near future.

AUTHORS

James Bing, NEO Virtus Engineering Inc., jbing@neovirtus.com; Obadiah Bartholomy and Thomas Vargas, SMUD, Obadiah.Bartholomy@smud.org, Thomas.Vargas@smud.org; Pramod Krishnani, Belectric Inc., krishnani.pramod@gmail.com, pramod.krishnani@belectric-usa.com

REFERENCES

(1) Wilcox, S.M, Myers, D.R. “Evaluation of Radiometers in Full-Time Use at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Solar Radiation Research Laboratory” December 2008, NREL NREL/TP-550-44627

Solar & Infrared Radiation Measurements

A new solar instrumentation text book “Solar & Infrared Radiation Measurements” is coming out at the end of June that culminates several years of effort by Joe Michalsky, Tom Stoffel, and Frank Vignola. Each of the authors has been involved with solar monitoring for over thirty years and has had much experience and many publications to draw upon. Ashley Gasque (ashley.gasque@taylorandfrancis.com) of CRC press asked the group to put together a solar instrumentation book after Dr Vignola presented a paper on pyrheliometers at the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) conference in San Diego.

The book is written for both students and professionals and includes an introduction to solar measurement fundamentals. General background and terminology needed to understand the uses and requirements of various solar monitoring radiometers is provided along with an overview on the various solar radiation instruments. The main focus of the book is global, diffuse, and direct normal shortwave radiation measurements but also contains chapters on infrared, net, UV, and spectral measurements. The book also includes sections on meteorological measurements, a step by step guide to setting up a solar monitoring station, and appendices on modeling solar data and how to use satellite images to estimate solar radiation. It also discusses the calibration and maintenance of instruments in the field, as well as covering the traceability of calibrations to international standards. For more information, go to http://www.crcpress.com/ and type the title of the book in the search window.

WREF 2012 Content of Interest (RAD)

Solar Resource Measurement (Technical), 5/14/2012 10:30am – 11:45am

• Reducing Uncertainty in Bankable Solar Resource and Energy Assessments through On-Site Monitoring
• Solar Monitoring, Forecasting, and Variability Assessment at SMUD
• Calibration of Long-Term Global Horizontal Irradiation Estimated By HelioClim-3 through Short-Term Local Measurement
• Characterizing Measurement Campaigns for the Calibration of the Diffuse Horizontal Irradiation Estimated By HelioClim-3
• Can Silicon Detectors be used for Measuring PV Performance?

Resource Variability and Modeling (Technical), 5/14/2012 1:15pm-2:30pm

• Impact of Distributed Generation on PV Variability: A Lanai Case Study
• The Variability Index: A New and Novel Metric for Quantifying Irradiance and PV Output Variability
• Optimum Fixed Orientations Considering Day-Ahead Market Energy Pricing in California
• GHI Correlations With DHI And DNI And The Effects Of Cloudiness On One-Minute Data
• Development of a Stochastic-Kinematic Cloud Model to Generate High-Frequency Solar Irradiance and Power Data
• A High-Resolution Surface Radiation Dataset from Geostationary Satellites: Methodology and Validation

Solar Resource Forecasting-1 (Technical), 5/14/2012 2:45pm – 4:00pm

• Design and Performance of an Optimized Ensemble Solar Generation Forecast System for Grid Systems on the Hawaiian Islands
• Cloud Advection Schemes for Short-Term Satellite-Based Insolation Forecasts
• Validation and Analysis of HRRR Insolation Forecasts using SURFRAD
• Critical Timeframes of Importance for PV from a Utility Perspective
• ECMWF Forecast Assessment of Direct Solar Irradiance over Australia
• An International Solar Irradiance Data Ingest System For Forecasting Solar Power And Agricultural Crop Yields

Solar Forecasting: Needs and Solutions (Forum), 5/14/2012 4:15pm – 5:30pm

• FORUM – Solar Forecasting: Needs and Solutions
• FORUM – Solar Forecasting for Integration of Large Amounts of Solar Energy

Renewable Energy Resource Assessment Methods & Applications Poster Session Exhibit Hall D5/15/2012 10:30am – 11:45am

• High Resolution Solar Measurements at DeSoto: The Deployment Experience
• Study of Solar Energy Potential in Azerbaijan
• Model To Calculate PV Array Altitude And Azimuth Angles To Maximize Energy And Demand Revenues From Measured Hourly Solar Radiation And Building Use Data
• An Artificial Neural Network Based Approach for Estimating Direct Normal, Diffuse Horizontal and Global Horizontal Irradiances using Satellite Images
• Recalibration of Heliosat-2 Method for Global Horizontal Irradiance Estimation in Dusty and Humid Environments
• Quantifying the Use of Site-Specific Measurements in Place of a Typical Meteorological Year Data Set for Solar Energy Modeling
• Improvement of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Mesoscale Model for Improved Solar Resource Assessments and Forecasts under clear skies
• Forecasting Solar Power Intermittency using Ground-Based Cloud Imaging
• Comparing Two Linear Regression Techniques for Long-Term Wind Speed Forecasting
• Assessment of Wind Energy Resources in Algeria
• Wind Properties at Turbine Hub Height: Examples Using Doppler Lidar
• Cost effective Wave measurements for Ocean energy
• Solar resource assessment in coastal NW-Europe
• Modeled Yearly Energy Yield Of Inverted Metamorphic Multijunction Solar Cells

Solar Resource Forecasting-II (Technical) 5/15/2012 10:30am – 11:45am

• Towards Intra-Hour Solar Forecasting Using Two Sky Imagers At A Large Solar Power Plant
• Determination of Forecast Value Considering Energy Pricing in California
• Short Term DNI Forecasting With Sky Imaging Techniques
• Cloud velocity estimation from an array of solar radiation measurements
• Development and testing of a new day-ahead solar power forecasting system
• Characterization of Irradiance Variability Using a High-resolution, Cloud Assimilating NWP

Resource Assessment Methods (Ignite) 5/15/2012 1:15pm – 2:30pm

• Atmospheric Attenuation of Solar Radiation in Central Receiver Systems
• Lidar measurements for offshore Wind Energy research
• P50/P90 Analysis for Solar Energy Systems Using the System Advisor Model
• System Advisor Model (SAM) Case Studies Comparing To Real Performance Results
• Analysis on the Mathematical Modeling of Wind Speed Probability Distribution Function
• Climate-Regime Cospectrum Analysis: Shortwave Solar Irradiance for Regionally Spaced Locales
• Computing Solar Energy Potential of Urban Areas Using Airborne LIDAR and Orthoimagery
• Analyzing Temporal and Spatial Variations of Direct Normal, Diffuse Horizontal and Global Horizontal Irradiances Estimated from an Artificial Neural Network Based Model
• Evaluation of Procedures to Improve Solar Resource Assessments: Optimum Use of Short-Term Data from a Local Weather Station to Correct Bias in Long-Term Satellite-Derived Solar Radiation Time Series
• Reanalysis: An Improved Data Set For Simulating Wind Generation?
• A Review of Solar Resource Assessment Initiatives in South Africa: The Case for a National Network
• Wind Speed Profile: A new Artificial Neural Network–Power Law Model

WREN-IV – Solar Radiation and Associated Topics (Technical), 5/15/2012 1:15pm – 2:30pm

• Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy – A Path to Sustainability in Buildings
• POTENTIALS FOR SOLAR IRRADIANCE ESTIMATION FROM TEMPERATURE DATA FOR AKOKA – NIGERIA
• A Bayesian Committee Model Approach To Forecasting Global Solar Radiation
• SOLAR IRRADIATION FORECASTING: STATE-OF-THE-ART AND PROPOSITION FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS FOR SMALL-SCALE INSULAR GRIDS
• Comparison of Clear-Sky and Persistence Models for Evaluating Solar Forecasting Skill
• Measuring Irradiance, Temperature and Angle of Incidence Effects on Photovoltaic Modules Using a Sourcemeter-based Test-bed
• Conformity of Ground Truth with Satellite Derived Data: The Ilorin Experience of Downward Longwave Radiation

Solar Resource Methods (Technical), 5/15/2012 2:45pm – 4:00pm

• Optimising The Temporal Averaging Period Of Point Surface Solar Resource Measurements For Correlation With Areal Satellite Estimates
• Improving Modeled Solar Irradiance Historical Time Series: What is the Appropriate Monthly Statistics for Aerosol Optical Depth?
• Understanding the Variation in Estimated Long-Term Solar Resource Estimates; Which Data Set Accurately Represents Your Project Site?
• Quantifying the Accuracy of the Use of Measure-Correlate-Predict Methodology for Long-Term Solar Resource Assessments
• Reporting of Irradiance Model Relative Errors

Solar Variability & Forecasting (Ignite), 5/15/2012 4:15pm – 5:30pm

• High-Density Solar Measurements at DeSoto: A Step Towards Developing a Better Understanding of PV Variability
• Predicting Short-Term Variability of High-Penetration PV
• A Simple Cloud Simulator for Investigating the Correlation Scaling Coefficient Used in the Wavelet Variability Model (WVM)
• A Comparison of Wind Power and Load Forecasting Error Distributions
• Outputs and error indicators for solar forecasting models
• Increasing time resolution of satellite-derived solar irradiance time-series
• PROGRESS TOWARD A VIRTUAL PYRANOMETER FOR LOW COST PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF PV SYSTEMS
• Modeling Distribution System Impacts of Solar Variability and Interconnection Location -Quantifying Long-Timescale Solar Resource Variability

Solar Resources and Forecasting Workshop Highlights (Forum), 5/16/2012 10:30am – 11:45am

• FORUM – Solar Resources & Forecasting Workshop Highlights

Photovoltaics & Wind Poster Session Exhibit Hall D, 5/16/2012 10:30am – 11:45am

• Spectral Distributions of Diffuse and Global Irradiance for Clear and Cloudy Periods

Resource Applications (Technical), 5/17/2012 10:30am – 11:45am

• A Consensus Wind forecasting System
• Clean Energy Ministerial Global Atlas for Solar and Wind Energy
• Micro-scale Numerical Weather Prediction and Its Application for an Offshore Wind Farm in South Korea
• Towards a High Resolution Long-term Solar Resource Database: Applying the SUNY model to ISCCP B1U data stream

From Minimizing Risk to Maximizing Performance: Flat Panel PV Resource Assessment Best Practices (Forum) , 5/17/2012 4:15pm – 5:30pm

• FORUM: From Minimizing Risk to Maximizing Performance: Flat Panel PV Resource Assessment Best Practices
• FORUM: ISO-9060 Standard & Pyranometer Measurement Accuracy
• FORUM: Flat Panel PV Resource Assessment Qualitative Analysis: Reference Cell or Pyranometer

Tour of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO – ticket required, 5/18/2012 9:00am – Noon

Tour of NREL’s National Wind Technology Center, Boulder, CO – ticket required, 5/18/2012 2:00pm – 4:00pm

In 2008, Dr. John Patten decided to explore whether a Southwest Windpower Skystream 3.7 wind turbine would generate enough electricity to supply a plug-in hybrid vehicle’s needs.

Dr. Patten is a professor at Western Michigan University, who had installed a Skystream 3.7 at Western Michigan University’s Engineering College in the summer of 2007.  At that location, on its 45 foot tall tower, the turbine generates between 1200 kWh and 1500 kWh annually.

Dr. Patten had his Toyota Prius modified to implement a Hymotion A123 Ion Battery Pack, which has a capacity of 5 kWh, has a driving range of 20-25 miles on electricity, and maximum charge time of 5.5 hours.

Dr. Patten with his plug-in hybrid

During the year-long study from December 2008 through December 2009, monthly turbine output was monitored and overlaid with the electricity needs of the plug-in hybrid vehicle to determine if the output from the turbine was enough to provide for the car’s appetite.  Battery temperature and the length of trips were also monitored.  The aggregate output of the Skystream 3.7 during the study was 1442 kWh. The electricity needs of the plug-in hybrid Prius during that timeframe was 1352 kWh.

Interestingly, at times when the ambient temperature was higher, there was less wind generated electricity. However, the warmer temperatures enabled the car to travel much greater distances in electric mode, while the colder temperatures reduced the battery efficiency, but tended to result in greater wind generation.  Research has continued through the winter of 2012, where testing on the performance impacts of pre-heating the battery has taken place.  Table1 below shows the results of cold weather performance coupled with different pre-heating temperatures of the battery.

Professor Patten is an ASES member and participant in the Small Wind Division. To join an ASES Division, you first need to be an ASES Professional-level member. Click here to join and then add up to nine (9) divisions of your choice.

Learn more about this study.  To receive the full Wind newsletter, an annual subscription to Solar Today and many other benefits, Join ASES today.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angstdei/3458416874/

Professional members of ASES are encouraged to participate in Division activities related to their field.  Each division holds a business meeting at the annual conference.

Here is the schedule of meetings to be held at the World Renewable Energy Forum, May 13 – 17, 2012 in Denver, Colorado.

• Conference Registration is required to attend in person.
• All  meetings will take place at the Colorado Convention Center.