Institute of
Solar Research
Concentrating Solar Systems for
Power, Heat and Fuel Generation
New materials and technologies for solar Frequent measurements are performed in this Academic and industrial customers use the solar power generation are tested at the DLR test facility to monitor the mirrors' reflectivity. furnace at DLR's Cologne site for experiments solar tower facility in Jülich (see front page). with highly concentrated solar radiation.
Global networking takes place mainly Research Goals Institute of through the SolarPACES implementing The short term objective of the Institute agreement (Solar Power and Chemical of Solar Research is to deliver R&D services
Solar Research Energy Systems) of the International to German and European industry part-
Energy Agency (IEA). In this network, ners. With state-of-the-art equipment and
The DLR Institute of Solar Research is the DLR has taken on numerous coordinating leading experts in the field of concentrated largest research entity in Germany investi- functions. solar power the Institute supports manu- gating and developing concentrating solar facturers and system developers to reach In Europe, DLR is affiliated to the Euro- high technical quality standards and to technologies to provide heat, electricity and fuel. The German Aerospace Center pean Renewable Energies Research Cen- ensure optimum operation of the compo- tres Agency (EUREC), the industry associa- nents installed in solar thermal power (DLR) has been conducting research in this tion European Solar Thermal Electricity plants. field for more than 30 years and has in Association (ESTELA) as well as the Euro- June 2011 bundled its activities in the pean Energy Research Alliance (EERA). In Themedium term goal is to reduce pro- newly founded Institute of Solar Research. 2004, DLR founded with partners from duction cost, as low cost is the main
The employees of the Institute work at France, Spain, and Switzerland SOLLAB, requirement to achieve a wider market
DLR's headquarters in Cologne, at the the Alliance of European Laboratories for penetration. The aim is to bring down solar
DLR sites in Jülich and Stuttgart, as well as Research and Technology on Solar Con- power production costs form about in the biggest European test center for centrating Systems. Nationally, DLR is 15-20 cents today to below 10 cents per concentrating solar technologies, the affiliated to the "Renewable Energy kWh depending on the site.
Plataforma solar de Almería (PSA) oper- Research Association (FVEE)", whose ated by DLR's Spanish research partner members research and develop technol- In thelong term , solar thermal systems
CIEMAT. In 2011 DLR took ownership of ogy for the utilization of renewable should also serve to provide a cost- the solar tower power plant in Jülich to energy and its integration in energy sys- effective way to produce solar fuels (such carry out industrial-scale research. The fed- tems, energy efficiency improvement, and as hydrogen). eral state of North Rhine-Westphalia has energy storage. Twice in succession, in provided substantial funding towards the 2006 and in 2009, the team was Cooperation with Industry extension of the experimental solar facility awarded the title "DLR Center of Excel- As an important element in achieving its
“Solarturm Jülich” and its conversion into lence" for its scientific, technological and research objectives and enhancing its tech- a large-scale scientific research facility economic performance. nology competence and leadership, the
Institute of Solar Research is actively operated by DLR. Within DLR, the Institute of Solar engaged in networking with industry part- Research closely cooperates with the Insti- The institute’s extensive scientific knowl- ners, working in a number of collaborative tute of Technical Thermodynamics, which edge and outstanding research facilities projects, e.g. funded in part by German qualify it as a world leading research insti- works on thermal energy storage systems Federal Ministries or the European Com- tution and center of expertise in the field and studies the impact of a wider intro- mission. The Institute also operates as a of concentrated solar power systems. duction of renewable energy by way of research and development service provider systems analysis. Further partnerships and consultant in industry projects.
exist with the DLR Institute of Materials Research in the field of ceramic high tem- Cooperating at various levels permits a perature materials, as well as with the direct technology transfer to the compa- DLR Institute of Combustion Technology nies as well as a professional exchange of in the area of the solar gas turbine knowledge and experience between systems. research and industry.
The sun simulator test bench at the QUARZ A solar furnace uses concentrated solar Solar receiver-reactors like this one for sulfuric Center® is used to evaluate the optical radiation to produce renewable hydrogen via acid splitting open up a wide spectrum of efficiency of parabolic trough receivers. a mixed oxide reaction. energy relevant chemical processes.
The activities of the Institute of Solar Consulting services to support technol- Systems optimization and economic pro- Research are grouped into five depart- ogy transfer in commercial project devel- cess evaluation ments. opment and demonstration activities. A new solar water treatment technology,
developed by DLR is distributed by the DLR
Point Focus Systems Qualification spin-off company SOWΛΛ RL GmbH, which
R&D activities mainly revolve around solar The aim of this part of our work is the has been founded jointly with one of DLR's
tower plants. The intention is to reduce development and provision of appropriate industry partners , Hirschmann Laborgeräte
the cost of electricity generation, aiming measurement methods and devices to be GmbH & Co. KG. to make solar power available at competi- able to measure and assess the quality of
tive prices in the mid-term. components and systems used in solar At the CeraStorE® competence center, the thermal power plants. Another important Main Topics: solar chemical engineering department, research area is the investigation of degra- Design, analysis and optimization of jointly with the DLR Institutes of Technical dation mechanisms and the verification of concentrators and heliostat fields Thermodynamics and Materials Research, component durability by using accelerated explores the use of innovative ceramic Development of efficient receiver tech- aging methods. materials in energy systems. The main topics nologies for high temperatures and Main topics: are reactive redox materials for solar fuel solar fluxes Measurement and evaluation of collec- production and new high temperature and
Design and optimization of future solar tor component and system quality corrosion resistant materials for solar
tower plants on the system level receiver-reactors. Development of new measurement Development of improved control tech- methods and acceptance procedures nologies for heliostat fields, receivers Facilities and Solar Materials Studying the influence of meteorological and power plants This Department provides state-of-the-art parameters on solar thermal power services to facilities using concentrating Development of specific simulation tools plants solar technologies up to the megawatt
Development of global standards for scale, and offers essential guidance con-
Line Focus Systems component evaluation cerning the selection of materials for This technology has been commercially applications derived from solar research. applied in solar thermal power plants for Tests to evaluate the durability of
decades. Research activities concentrate materials used in the desert Main topics: Deployment and operation of pilot plants on innovative improvements of processes All research is carried out using our own for experiments with highly concentrated and components, and the exploitation of instruments in the laboratories and test solar radiation for academic and industrial new applications, e.g. the use of industrial facilities at DLR's QUARZ-Center® in users process heat, or co-generation of heat and Cologne and at the Plataforma Solar de power. Almería (PSA). Supporting users during preparation, implementation and evaluation of their Main topics: experiments Optimization of the direct steam gener- Solar Chemical Engineering ation in terms of process technology, The objective of this research is to develop Development of specialized instrumenta- control and live steam parameters energy relevant chemical processes pow- tion and test infrastructure ered by solar radiation. Investigation of alternative heat transfer Determination of thermo-physical proper- fluids for increased process temperature Main topics: ties of functional high temperature mate- and conversion efficiency Production or upgrading of fuels, espe- rials cially hydrogen Exploitation of cost reduction potentials Description of heat and mass transfer
by developing and testing efficient Solar water detoxification and desalina- processes in porous materials components with reduced material tion as well as the solar powered pro- consumption and low labor intensity duction of chemicals Demonstration of new technologies at Development and scale-up of reactors a relevant scale and processes At the Plataforma Solar de Almería researchers of the Institute of Solar Research test various technologies under real conditions.
The high flux solar furnace and an electri- cally powered high flux solar simulator in DESERTEC Cologne allow tests with irradiances up to
several MW/m2 . Germany's solar thermal DESERTEC relies on baseload-capable and test power plant is located in Jülich. Its well adjustable solar thermal power plants research platform can also be used for in the sun belt of the Earth to create cli- experiments with highly concentrated solar mate-friendly power for Europe, the Mid- radiation. Preparations are underway to dle East and North Africa and to compen- build a number of additional CSP testing sate for the fluctuating energy provided by facilities on the open premises of the Jülich photovoltaic and wind power plants. The plant. DESERTEC concept is based on the MED-
CSP, TRANS-CSP and AQUA-CSP studies conducted by the DLR Institute of Techni-
Research for cal Thermodynamics, which demonstrated the potential of renewable energy for the Climate Protection sustainable production of electricity and
drinking water in said regions. In the com- The high global climate protection poten- ing years DLR will continue in its efforts to tial of solar thermal power plants is likely support industry and government in fine- to create large markets in particular for tuning the DESERTEC concept, expand its emerging industrial countries of the sun partnerships with countries in the region belt of the Earth. Climate protection and and promote the import of adjustable the prospect of future export opportunities solar energy as an important part of the are therefore the main reason for German energy revolution. companies and DLR to become intensively involved in the development of concentrat-
ing solar systems. To achieve the climate protection targets and security of supply in
Germany in the long term, imported solar thermal electricity can become an impor-
tant factor in establishing a renewable
energy supply system.
Parabolic trough test facility for direct steam Industrial prototype linear fresnel collector Innovative storage models for solar thermal generation at the PSA. under test at the PSA. power stations are being developed in close cooperation at the DLR Institute of Technical Thermodynamics.
To concentrate solar radiation, various In a solar tower power plant, mirrors of Technologies technologies are currently being used and up to 200 m2 in size (so-called heliostates) further developed. track the sun in two axes, concentrating Concentrating solar systems work like the direct radiation by a factor of 500 to very large lenses: they concentrate solar Parabolic trough collectors track the 1000 at the top of a central tower. There, radiation to generate heat. At high tem- sun in a single axis. The direct solar radia- a heat transfer fluid is heated typically to perature levels of up to 3000 °C solar tion is concentrated onto an absorber a temperature between 250 °C and thermal energy can be used to generate tube in the focal line. A thermal oil circu- 1000 °C, and sometimes even beyond. electricity, either for immediate use in lates inside the tube as a heat transfer To study and qualify various heat transfer technical processes or for the production medium. The fluid is heated up to its limit fluids for suitability, trials were run in of fuels. of just under 400 °C and then used for several tower power stations. steam generation in a conventional Because only the direct sunlight can be power plant. PS10, the world's first commercial solar focused, it makes sense to implement tower power plant with an electrical this technology especially in the sunny The use of this technology dates back as output of 10 MW has been in operation regions of the Earth. In theory, 1% of the far as the late 1980s, when nine Califor- since 2007 in southern Spain. In 2009, area of the Sahara desert would suffice nian solar thermal power plants with a an additional 20 MW power station, PS20, to cover the electricity consumption of total electrical capacity of 354 MW were was built in its neighborhood. In 2011, a the world by operating solar thermal put into operation. Since 2006, new com- 15 MW solar tower was built near the city power plants. mercial parabolic trough power plants of Cordoba. It uses molten salt as heat have been built in many sun-rich coun- transfer fluid and storage medium, which A special advantage of solar thermal tries around the world – starting in Spain makes it possible to operate the plant power plants is that they can compensate and the United States - meanwhile grow- round the clock since it has a 15-h thermal for variations in radiation by heat storage ing by more than 1000 MW per year. energy storage capacity. Currently, a or additional combustion, which enables number of commercial solar tower power them to provide electricity on demand. A similar principle is that of linear plants with an even higher power output Fresnel collectors with narrow, shal- are under construction in the United States Thus, at very low fuel expenses, solar ther- lower reflector elements and a stationary and will shortly be commissioned. mal power plants can achieve the same absorber. A first commercial 30 MW high security of supply as fossil fuel power plant of this type was commis- Thermal storage provides solar thermal power plants. Their commercialization sioned in Spain early in 2012. power generation with additional flexibility. and market launch has begun. New About half of today's parabolic trough power plants of this kind are currently To increase power generation efficiency, power plants in Spain are operated in the under construction in several countries, the next generation of parabolic trough 50 MW range and use a molten salt stor- especially in Spain and the United States. and linear Fresnel collectors are designed age system that permits up to seven hours to reach steam temperatures of around full load operation without sunshine. For 500 °C through the direct evaporation of the various solar power technologies with water and subsequent overheating in the different temperatures and heat transfer absorber tube, or through the use of media, innovative storage concepts and molten salt mixtures as a heat carrier media are being developed and tested in medium. pilot plants.
DLR at a glance
DLR is Germany’s national research centre for aeronautics and space. Its extensive research and development work in Aeronau- tics, Space, Energy, Transport and Security is integrated into natio- nal and international cooperative ventures. As Germany’s space agency, DLR has been given responsibility for the forward plan- ning and the implementation of the German space programme
by the German federal government as well as for the international representation of German interests. Furthermore, Germany’s largest project management agency is also part of DLR.
Approximately 7000 people are employed at 16 locations in Germany: Cologne (headquarters), Augsburg, Berlin, Bonn, Braunschweig, Bremen, Goettingen, Hamburg, Juelich, Lampolds- hausen, Neustrelitz, Oberpfaffenhofen, Stade, Stuttgart, Trauen, and Weilheim. DLR also operates offices in Brussels, Paris, and Washington D.C.
DLR’s mission comprises the exploration of Earth and the Solar System, research for protecting the environment, for environment- friendly technologies, and for promoting mobility, communication, and security. DLR’s research portfolio ranges from basic research to the development of tomorrow’s products. In that way DLR con- tributes the scientific and technical know-how that it has gained to enhancing Germany’s industrial and technological reputation. DLR operates large-scale research facilities for DLR’s own projects and as a service provider for its clients and partners. It also promo- tes the next generation of scientists, provides competent advisory services to government, and is a driving force in the local regions of its field centres.
Institute of Solar Research Directors: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Robert Pitz-Paal Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernhard Hoffschmidt
Linder Höhe 51147 Köln Telefon: +49 2203 601-2744 Telefax: +49 2203 601-4141 E-Mail: [email protected]
SF-0912-KP-B-en-001 Internet: www.DLR.de/SF