Experimental and Numerical Evaluation of Solar Receiver Heat Losses of a Commercial 9 MWe Linear Fresnel Power Plant

Edouard Montanet, Sylvain Rodat (), Quentin Falcoz and Fabien Roget
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Edouard Montanet: Processes, Materials and Solar Energy Laboratory, PROMES-CNRS, 7 Rue du Four Solaire, 66120 Font Romeu, France
Sylvain Rodat: Processes, Materials and Solar Energy Laboratory, PROMES-CNRS, 7 Rue du Four Solaire, 66120 Font Romeu, France
Quentin Falcoz: Processes, Materials and Solar Energy Laboratory, PROMES-CNRS, 7 Rue du Four Solaire, 66120 Font Romeu, France
Fabien Roget: eLLO Solar Power Plant, Port de Llo, 66800 Llo, France

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 23, 1-18

Abstract: Evaluating the heat losses of linear Fresnel concentrator (LFC) receivers is crucial for determining plant efficiency and managing the flow rate in solar lines. This becomes particularly significant when operating in direct steam generation to manage the steam quality at the line outlet. In general, the LFC receiver heat losses are determined experimentally on prototype systems to control the inlet condition or numerically using 3D computational fluid dynamics models or 1D mathematical models. The originality of this work is in reporting the study of heat losses of a commercial 9 MWe solar Fresnel power plant without impacting its electricity production. The experimentally measured receiver’s linear heat losses were found to be well represented by a second-degree polynomial function of the difference between the inlet/outlet fluid temperature average and the ambient temperature. Finally, to express the strong influence of wind speed on the receiver heat losses, a 1D single-phase model was developed and adapted to include the current receiver degradation. To conclude, the model was validated by comparing the experimental and theoretical results. Based on this comparison, it can be concluded that the model accurately predicts experimental heat losses with an acceptable uncertainty of ±30%, regardless of the wind velocity.

Keywords: linear Fresnel collector; solar receiver; heat loss study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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