>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Phase change material (PCM) through latent heat of molten salt, is a convincing way for thermal energy storage in CSP applications due to its high volume density. Molten salt, with (60% NaNO3 and 40% KNO3) has been used extensively for energy storage however; the low thermal conductivity and specific heat have limited its large implementation in solar applications. For that, molten salt with the additive of silver nanowires (AgNWs) was synthesized and characterized. This research project aims to investigate the thermophysical properties enhancement of nanosalt (Mixture of molten salt and silver nanowires). The results obtained showed that by simply adjusting the temperature, Silver nanowires with high aspect ratio have been synthesized through the enhanced PVP polyol process method. SEM results revealed a network of silver nanowires and TEM results confirmed the presence of silver nanowires with an average diameter of 129 nm and 16 μm in length.

Concern over the altering climate due to the release of anthropogenic greenhouse gases has caused a major shift in the developments of ways to minimise human impact on the climate. Solar energy is seen as one of the most promising sources to transform the energy market for low-carbon energy generation. Currently, solar power is generated via photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies. The advantage of CSPs to scale up renewable energy to utility level, as well as to store thermal energy for electrical power generation when the sun is not available (after sunset or during cloudy periods) makes this technology an attractive option for sustainable clean energy. CSP development, however, is still in its infancy, and for it to be a competitive form of energy-generation technology, techno-economic developments in this field need to improve the efficiency and decrease the costs of this technology. A policy report by the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC) (2011) indicated that central receiver (solar tower) CSP systems show the greatest margin for technological improvements (40% to 65% is estimated), and that an improvement in receiver technology could make the greatest contribution to increase efficiency. This study therefore focused on analysing the optical and thermal performance of a new proposed solar cavity molten salt receiver design for a central receiver CSP system using a numerical approach. In this study, the receiver’s performance was analysed by first selecting an existing heliostat field, Planta Solar 10 (PS-10). For the numerical analysis to reflect conditions that are as realistic as possible, numerical models for different aspects were selected and validated. For modelling the sun, the solar tracking numerical model proposed by Iqbal (1983) was selected and implemented after literature and comparison showed adequate results. The direct normal irradiation (DNI) was modelled by applying a clear sky model, with the parameterisation model C proposed by Iqbal (1983) as the chosen model. The variables in this model that were subject to temperature, and humidity values were more accurately presented by adding numerical approximations of the region’s actual weather data. The DNI model reflected realistic fluctuations. For the thermal modelling, a validation study was conducted on impingement flow heat transfer to select an appropriate Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) model that would provide accurate results when conducting the thermal performance test on the receiver. The study concluded that the transitional Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence model performed the best. A new method was also developed and validated that allows one to not only simulate complex geometries within the Monte Carlo ray tracing environment SolTrace, but also to apply the results obtained by simulating this model as a heat source within the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) environment ANSYS Fluent. This allows SolTrace modelling to be more accurate, since models do not need to be approximated to simple geometries. It also provides an alternative for solar modelling in ANSYS Fluent. The optical analysis was conducted by first performing an analysis on the receiver aperture and studying its sensitivity on the captured flux. This was followed by analysing the optics of the proposed receiver, the flux distributions on a simplified absorber surface area, and how these distributions are altered by changing some parameters. An in-depth analysis was finally done on the absorber area by applying the aforementioned model to simulate complex geometries within SolTrace, with the results illustrating the difference of the detailed geometry on optical modelling. An alternative receiver design with improved optical features was proposed, with an initial study providing promising results. The thermal analysis was done within the CFD environment, with only a section of the absorber surface area considered, and by applying the solar flux simulated during the optical analysis as heat source within the geometry model. This allowed the model to simulate the effects of re-radiation at the surface of the absorber while simulating the heat transfer at the fluid molten salt side simultaneously. The results showed that, for the current design and requirements, the absorber surface temperature reaches impractical temperatures. Altering the design or being more lenient on the requirements has, however, shown dramatic improvements in terms of thermal performance. Sensitivity studies for both the optical and thermal analyses have shown that changes in design can dramatically improve the performance of the design, making it a possible feasible receiver design for central receiver systems. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / National Research Foundation (NRF) / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / MEng / Unrestricted

Thermo-economic modeling refers to the process of estimating the cost and performance of a power plant using cost oriented equations and reference data. In this thesis the fundamentals of cost and performance modeling as well as sensitivity analysis is researched and applied to an existing model in the field of concentrated solar power. The thesis aims to isolate the sources of possible errors and presents comprehensible methods of minimizing the sensitivity these give rise to. The extensive literature study provides the knowledge and methodologies necessary to perform an evaluation of a computer model and these methodologies are applied to the tool DYESOPT developed at the Royal Institute of Technology.   The evaluation highlights the importance of reliable references of operational solar power plants and also the current lack of such data. A particular area suffering from this is the cost estimation, which includes assumptions and requires future revisions. The sensitivity analysis methodologies one-at-a-time and the sensitivity index are used to locate the areas where extra care must be taken in order to minimize error as well as provide an understanding of the internal correlation of critical inputs.   The results show that the accuracy of the model is dominated by three inputs: solar multiple, tower height and storage time, and that certain intervals and combinations of these decide the overall error of the model. By isolating the intervals in which the sensitivity is at its minimum the model error can be roughly quantified with a class system using standard error intervals. For a model such as DYESOPT a minimum error of 20 to 30 percent is a reasonable assumption.

This master thesis report presents a prefeasibility analysis for a Saudi Company to enter the solar industry.Section one of this report illustrates the value chain analysis and opportunity identification and evaluation process applied to CSP technology. Section two offers an example of a potential business case in hybrid-powered commercial irrigation.

The way its future power systems are designed will have significant impact on sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA) aspirations to move from low electricity consumption rates to enhance life quality and further increase economic opportunity. At present, Africa is experiencing higher economic growth rates than other continents (including Asia). And so is its need for electric power. However, all too often the options that are chosen are the ones with lowest risk and that require little coordination. In part, this is because region-wide planning, coordination and institutions are in their infancy. “Low risk” power plants typically include oil generators that can be sited close to loads, other fossil fuel power plants, and hydro plants that can easily be connected to the continent’s grid. However, hydropower production has been limited due to changes in weather and climate and socio-economic impacts. Additionally, its potential has also not been reached as large sites are far from adequate grids. A restructuring of the energy system that considers both the potential for increased geographical integration while moving gradually towards more sustainable electricity generation may hold significant promise. This work considers the potential of another renewable technology namely concentrating solar power (CSP) and connecting supply and demand centers via high voltage direct current (HVDC) power lines. Specifically, the focus is on utility-scale solar power generation to supply the needs of growing urban centers of demand. It develops a Geographic Information System-based (GIS) model with a spatial resolution of 30 arc-seconds to calculate the cost evolution of the electricity produced by different technologies of CSP plants and the costs of grid development to selected centers of demand. The results show that major SSA metropolis can benefit from distant CSP economically attractive to compete with inlaid coal-based generation. In 2010, total imports of coal exceeded 1.4 million short tons with consequent economic and environmental costs. Solar towers plants endowed with thermal storage may become a leading technology for smoothing purposes with zero fuel costs. Furthermore, Africa’s vast solar resources are far from urban centers of demand and a transmission system capable to integrate high levels of renewable energy while improving reliability of supply is required. The results of this study point to the importance of SSA centers to rely on a Super Grid approach to take advantage from CSP least-cost potential and to discontinue expensive traditional sources. Overall, solar corridors can integrate with geographically-wide wind and hydro potentials to create clean energy corridors and encourage a transition towards more sustainable energy systems.

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The cooperation between large scale Concentrated Solar Power plants (CSP) and Solar Photovoltaic (PV) parks can offer stability in power supply and enhance the capacity factor of the CSP plant intended to cover a common demand on the power system. Moreover, it can offer an investment option with lower risk. This Master thesis project presents optimum plant configurations for both technologies under the same meteorological and market conditions. The study is based in the South African electricity market and the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Program currently in place in the country. Using MATLAB and TRNSYS softwares, a series of detailed codes were designed in order to model both technologies energy transformation process. The main approach was to design the nominal operation point of both technologies for a given typical meteorological year data and respective technical conditions for each case. Then, a transient simulation was done in order to obtain the electricity yield. The intention was to measure the internal rate of return, levelized cost of electricity and capacity factor for each technology and the combined configuration (CSP-PV plant) under different scenarios and operation modes while a firm capacity was maintained. It was found that the plants can be economically feasible by sizing a storage unit capable of just covering the peak hours. The solar multiple sizes can vary depending on the scenario and plant configuration. Moreover, the internal rate of return increases with the capacity of the CSP in all cases. After the results were obtained, a comparison with a single CSP plant and the optimum CSP-PV plant was done in order to evaluate the performance of the proposed cooperation. Even though the internal rate of return of the CSP-PV plant was found to be within a good range for investment, the CSP-alone alternative offered always higher internal rate of return and lower levelized cost of electricity values. Nonetheless, it was found that the capacity factor of the combined configuration was favored by the integration of PV. The PV alone configuration hold the lowest levelized cost of electricity, thus considered the best option for and investment in South Africa due to its independence towards incentives. Combined PV-CSP systems were also found to be an attractive investment under the South African scheme if the CSP capacity is similar to the PV power plant.

Renewable energy technique is increasing in popularity and usage. But the world´s current energy consumption is extensively uneven, and 1,6 billion people still live without access to electricity. The domestic work in rural areas is often very time and energy consuming; fetching water alone can take up to 5 hours or more per day. Due to gender inequality, women are the most responsible for the drudgery household work in rural areas in developing countries. Hence, women are more and worsely affected from the lack of access to electricity than men. Access to electricity can reduce the time consuming domestic chores with several hours per day. It can also benefit women´s empowerment, because all the extra time can provide new possibilities and freedoms. Rural women´s electricity needs are summarized by ENERGIA and UNDP. The needs can be divided in; mills for grinding, water pumps, indoor and street lighting and power for TV, radio, small enterprises etc. Solar power is an interesting alternative since it functions just as good off-grid and can be quickly installed. Solar powered waterpumps are a very good alternative whilst solar grinding mills are too cost intensive. Solar power provides affordable indoor and street lighting alternatives, thus street lighting can vary greatly in price. Solar power works good with smaller loads which requires constant power, such as a small refrigerator or a radio. The larger the loads, the greater the expences, so for large enterprices solar power is not yet a viable option. Hence, access to electricity is not enough, empowerment is just as important for women in order to actually gain more freedoms instead of more working hours due to extended hours of evening light.

This degree project aims to investigate whether it is possible to establish photovoltaic (PV) systems inexisting Swedish wind farms from a production and permit perspective. The degree project examinesthe conditions for the establishment of PV systems in three wind farms owned by Eolus Vind AB. The results show the importance of investigating the prerequisites of the location to find the rightproject site for PV power plants. In addition, the results show that Swedish laws do not oppose PVpower plants being built in wind farms. The production calculations also show that a more evenelectricity power production is achieved when PV systems are installed on open areas in the windfarms, but that the proportion of installed power will be limited by the connection points within eachwind farm. The conclusion is that wind farms are suitable with a combination of solar and wind power, but theconnection point will be a major factor in the amount of installed solar power that can be added to theproject areas.

Four solar cells dominate the Swedish market today and are divided into two groups; first generation and second generation. The first generation involves of two silicone solar cells called mono-and multicrystalline solar cells. These solar cells were, as the name indicates, first on the market and today receive the highest efficiency. Due to high manufacturing costs, the second generation was developed which became thin film solar cells. The two most common solar cells in that generation are CdTe and CIGS, which account for about 20 percent of the solar cell market today while the first-generation accounts for the remaining 80 percent. Going towards a sustainable future it’s important and clear that both companies, cities and countries are ready meet the challenges. The solar cell technology has gained high confidence to bring in sustainable electricity production. Investors in Sweden experience the lack of a valuation concept from an environmental perspective between the solar cells on the Swedish market. The study has examined how the four different solar cells affect different environmental categories and which materials in the solar cells that are the most critical. By simulating the electricity production for a year with Gothenburg's solar radiation, the amount of electricity that could be used or sent to the grid was obtained. Where the silicon solar cells that have the highest efficiency also received the most electricity per square meter of solar cell. After producing electricity production and electricity consumption, the energy repayment period was calculated. Through LCA, 11 different environmental categories were developed to analyze different areas that are affected by solar cell production. Aquatic ecotoxicity of the marine environment was the environmental category that was most affected by the production for all four solar cell types. From the environmental category Global Warming, the amount of carbon dioxide equivalents was studied and then a payback time was calculated. Solar cells generally have three different phases; manufacture, operating and waste. The use phase is considered to be almost emission-free, the waste phase is relatively new for solar cell technologies. This is because no large waste streams have come than when the first major investments took place only in the nineties. The solar cells need different techniques depending on the type. The strategies should be different as different parts should be recycled and reused as far as possible. Due to the fact that there is unstable waste management, this phase has not been studied but only the manufacturing phase.   A square metered solar cell was analyzed. For photovoltaic production in Europe, multicrystalline solar cell panels pay back the carbon dioxide equivalents after 11.5 years, while monocrystalline solar cell panels pay again after 14.3 years, ie after about half the life. CdTe paid the carbon dioxide equivalents fastest, after 2.2 years, and CIGS after 3.6 years. This means that the thin-film solar cells have the fastest time to get minus emissions. It is not justified to invest in solar cells manufactured in China when operating in Gothenburg, only after studying solar cell production. When the repayment period for carbon dioxide equivalents has been calculated, a Nordic electricity mix has been calculated with, depending on which electricity mix is ​​chosen, it either gives reasons to not invest or to invest in solar cells. It is therefore important to be clear about what use the solar cells will have and which electricity is actually replaced before investors decide whether solar cells are the right energy source to invest in.