Energy, Climate, & Infrastructure Security (ECIS)

Solar Research

Heliostat Field

On September 26, 2012, in

The heliostat field has 218 individual heliostats. This capability directly supports the SunShot goals by providing flux levels of greater than 300 W/cm2 and total power in excess of 6 MWt. Each heliostat has two motors and two drives (one azimuth and one elevation), one 480 V power box, one electronics box, and one control box [...]


Power Towers for Utilities

On September 6, 2012, in

Desirable Features of Power Towers for Utilities Because of their practical energy storage, solar power towers have two features that are particularly desirable for utilities: flexible capacity factors and a high degree of dispatchability. Power towers can be designed with annual capacity factors up to 60 percent, and as high as 80 percent in summer [...]


CSP Software & Tools

On June 21, 2012, in

DELSOL SOLERGY DELSOL DELSOL is a performance and design code that includes optical and economic analyses. An analytical Hermite polynomial expansion/convolution-of-moments method is used to predict flux images from the heliostats in a computationally efficient manner (typically much faster than either MIRVAL or HELIOS). The code accounts for variations in insolation, cosine forshortening, shadowing and [...]


Solar Resource Assessment

On April 4, 2012, in

Solar resource is one of the most important inputs to PV power plant yield and performance evaluations. It is also one of the most difficult quantities to measure and estimate accurately. Sandia’s Solar Resource Assessment program researches and develops models and algorithms for estimating, predicting, and forecasting the solar resource. Current research efforts at Sandia [...]


PV Arc-Fault Detection and Mitigation Program

On April 4, 2012, in

Background Program Goals IndustryCollaboration FutureCollaborations Publications Contacts   Photovoltaic (PV) arc-faults can lead to fires, damage property, and threaten the safety of building occupants. In response, Article 690.11 was approved for the 2011 National Electrical Code®, requiring new PV systems, 80 V or greater, on or penetrating a building to include a listed arc-fault protection [...]


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Last Updated: January 23, 2013
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