News

Tuning of Real-Time Optimization of Heliostat Concentrated Solar Power

This study proposes a method to refine the Real-Time Optimization (RTO) algorithm for better stability and quick convergence, especially when the shape of the sunspot is uncertain.

Read the full study here.

News

HelioCon announces publication of 2024 Annual Report

The Heliostat Consortium’s 2024 annual report details new advances in an array of technologies to improve the cost and performance of heliostats. "HelioCon has made tremendous progress on developing, maturing, and validating third-party evaluation and testing capabilities to make them ready for industry," said Guangdong Zhu, HelioCon executive director. "This is exactly what the industry needs right now." 

The report also highlights the growth of the HelioCon community over the past year and the consortium’s plans for 2025. Read the 2024 HelioCon annual report and learn more about how HelioCon is driving solar innovation and building the CSP community. 

Read the news release. 

News

OpenCSP is now live

OpenCSP is a new collaborative environment supporting software, computer-aided design (CAD), data, education, and other applications for concentrating solar power (CSP). “The goal of OpenCSP is to reduce barriers to access high quality metrology and analysis tools, to increase performance of concentrating solar power systems,” says HelioCon member Randy Brost of Sandia National Laboratories. To learn more about this open-source platform, go to the OpenCSP website. Find an overview of the platform’s current offerings at the Portfolio tab. 

Sandia NSTTF Solar Tower with on-sun beam and BCS metrology image, used for feedback controls.

Sandia NSTTF Closed Loop Controls System Architecture.

Laboratory Closed Loop Controls Test bed for controls screening with a smaller target.

Featured Project

Heliostat Field Closed-Loop Control System Testbed Development

Description:
This project is developing a closed loop controls and wireless communications test bed, which will parallel a DOE SETO heliostat field refurbishment effort. This experimental test system comprising 218 heliostats will be flexible to bring in python closed-loop controls architectures to demonstrate on-sun with an approximate 200 ft. tall solar tower. This system would also enable testing of wireless controls communications such as WiFi, Mesh and radio platforms. This work is being conducted in a phased approach with a laboratory closed-loop controls test bed, prior to real-time closed loop control with 4, 16 and the subsequent 218 heliostats, where feedback is tested from one or more measurements of direct optical metrology.

Project Lead:
Ken Armijo , Sandia

Status: 

• Controls and real-time processing architecture being completed with validation work underway.

Featured Researcher

Parthiv Kurup (NREL)

Parthiv Kurup is a Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) specialist in the Accelerated Deployment and Decision Support (ADDS) Center, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He has been involved in the Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST) field for the last 12 years. With HelioCon he has worked closely with Randy Borst in the Advanced Manufacturing Task, is a technical monitor for a Request for Proposal (RFP) project where Solar Dynamics are developing and testing an advanced heliostat, and has worked with others in the HelioCon team to develop CSP costs e.g., heliostats.

Recent Publications 

• Heliostat Consortium Annual Report 2024 - https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy25osti/91036.pdf 
• Roadmap to Advance Heliostat Technologies for Concentrating Solar- Thermal Power - https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy22osti/83041.pdf  
• Initial Heliostat Supply Chain Analysis - https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/83569.pdf  
• Cost Update: Commercial and Advanced Heliostat Collectors - https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy22osti/80482.pdf 

Past Featured Researchers