Annual Report 2006 - Plataforma Solar de Almería

CONCENTRATING SOLAR SYSTEMS UNIT
Achievements:
• Experimental techniques and installations were perfected: i) a 4000 W
lamp for laboratory testing at 100 to 1500 kW/m 2 ; ii) optical test bench
for measuring reflectivity and directional transmissivity of porous absorbers;
iii) a cyclic solar thermal testing device to be installed in a parabolic
dish at the Plataforma Solar de Almería; iv) acquisition and adjustment of
Vickers and Knoop hardness testers (Leco mod. LV700); v) acquisition
and adjustment of a thermogravimetry analysis, or thermobalance, system.
• Pretreatment/durability methods were developed for metal absorbers:
The durability of two “blackening” techniques were explored, 1) the typical
Pyromark paint and, 2) a thermal sprayed metal-oxide coating.
• Volumetric receiver tests in the PSA furnace.
Publications:[3.17]
3.3.6 SolHyCo
Solar Hybrid Power and Cogeneration Plants
Participants: DLR (D, coordinator), TURBEC (I), CIEMAT (E), CEA (F), Ormat
(IL), Abengoa (E), FTF (D), Sonatrach (ALG), GEA (PL), Vitalux
(BR), and the IIE (MEX)
Contact:
Peter Heller (peter.heller@dlr.de);
Thörsten Denk (thorsten.denk@psa.es)
Funding: European Commission 6 th Framework Program (Contract
019830)
Duration: January 1, 2006 to June 30, 2009
Background: This project is the heir to the successful REFOS, Solgate and
HST projects that developed pressurized receiver solutions for integrating solar
heat in gas cycles or combined cycles and demonstrated their capacity to
produce electricity in hybrid schemes (with conventional fuel backup) in a
250 kW e system. This type of solar-hybrid system combines solar energy and
fossil fuels, but they are only 100% sustainable if they use biofuels.
Purpose: The main purpose of SolHyCo is to develop a very high-efficiency
solar-hybrid microturbine for generation of both electricity and heat, working
with concentrated solar radiation and biofuels, and making it a completely
renewable system. Another purpose of the project is study of market introduction
in sunny countries, in particular, Algeria, Brazil and Mexico.
Achievements in 2006: Tests were planned at two CESA-1 tower test beds,
the first at the 60-m level with the 250-kW e turbine made by the Israeli company,
Ormat (Figure 3.17), which had already been very successfully operated
in the Solgate project. This turbine is fed by three pressurized air receivers
(one tube and two volumetric) with a total thermal power of 1 MW. The
kerosene used in the Solgate Project was replaced by 100% biodiesel.
The second is at the 45-m level with a 100-kW turbine from Turbec, an
Italian/Swedish firm. For this turbine, a new type of pressurized tube air receiver
is being developed, using high-technology “multi-layer tubes”. The
tubes have three layers: the outside is very-high-temperature steel, the middle
is copper to distribute the heat around the circumference of the tube and
the inside is very fine steel to mechanically stabilize the copper layer.
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