Atmospheric extinction levels of solar radiation at Plataforma Solar de Almería. Application to solar thermal electric plants

Elena Carra, Jesús Ballestrín, Jesús Polo, Javier Barbero and Jesús Fernández-Reche

Energy, 2018, vol. 145, issue C, 400-407

Abstract: To integrate Solar Thermal Electric (STE) Plants energy production into the electric power supply system of a country, it's necessary to solve some uncertainties about availability of solar resource. One of these is the accurate knowledge of solar radiation reaching solar receiver. Solar radiation is attenuated by aerosols and molecules present in the Atmosphere. Estimation of this phenomenon is complicated due to environmental factors on which it depends. Currently there are some methodologies in literature to estimate it (parametric models, simulations tools, radiative transfer codes (RTC) or visibility instrumentation). A new approach to estimate the extinction in STE Plants has been elaborated. Developed model uses atmospheric realistic conditions present in a real location. With this purpose, a Typical Aerosols Year (TAY) has been elaborated using NREL Methodology for Typical Meteorological Years. TAY has been created processing aerosol data provided by an AERONET station located at PSA. Using TAY has been obtained the typical spectral transmittances levels at PSA, with RTC. Attenuation model results from transmittances levels, has been used to acquire production and economic losses due to extinction in a simulated STE Commercial Plant at PSA. Results have been compared with others in the literature for the same emplacement.

Keywords: Atmospheric extinction; Solar tower plants efficiency; Aerosol optical depth; Radiative transfer codes; Typical Meteorological Year; Attenuation losses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544217321540
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:145:y:2018:i:c:p:400-407

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2017.12.111

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().