Fakulteit Ingenieurswese

Faculty of Engineering

Eskom Chair of CSP at

Stellenbosch University

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Dinter27 August 2013

2Existing knowledge on Solar Thermal Energy

Prof. Dr.-Eng. Frank Dinter since June 2013 in STERG• Former Technical Director of Andasol 3, Spain

and Head of Solar at RWE Innogy, Germany

Andasol 3: Facts & Figures Owner: Marquesado Solar S.L. Location: Aldeire/La Calahorra

(Granada, Spain) Capacity: 50 MWel Forecasted electricity

production: ~200 GWh/a Commissioning in autumn 2011 Annual CO2 savings:

150,000 tonnes Size of the collector area: ~ 500,000 m² Technology: Parabolic trough incl. 7.5h molten salt storage

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Source: DLR

The main advantage of CSP technology against other RES as PV or wind power is the capability to provide dispatch-able power by storing solar energy through thermal energy storage

Flexible and predictable electricity generation

Dispatch-able Energy

Existing knowledge on Solar Thermal Energy

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Solar thermal history at SU

Research and academic committee

representative

1980 - 1989 1990 - 1999 2000 – 2009 2010 -

SOLAR THERMAL ENERGYRESEARCH GROUP

Solar resource station at SUSolar chimney research at SU commences

Dry cooling research at SU commences

Solar roof lab commissioned

National SANERI/DST RE centre founded

First Parabolic Trough Research

SANERI/DST Solar thermal

spoke& Hope project

Sasol researcher

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STERG acceleration2010

7 – 15 people2011

~ 30 people2012

~ 45 people2013 –

~ 60 (75) people

SOLAR THERMAL ENERGYRESEARCH GROUP

Solar resource station at SU

Solar roof lab expansion (withtower, kiln, etc)

NRF solar thermal spoke 2013 - 17

Sasol 40 m2

heliostat field

Eskom chair and centre of excellence

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STERG infrastructure & resources• Staff: 8+ (Eskom/Sasol researchers,

administrative, engineering and technical support)

• 1,000 m2 solar roof laboratory, staff office, workshop & control room

• 18 m lattice tower (multi-use)• 600 °C,1.5 m3 packed bed storage rig & 1,200

°C kiln• Solar resource station with free web download

(K&Z full tracker and shadow ring)• ADA Solar water heating test facility• 25 kWe Eskom McDonnel Douglas Stirling Dish• Key SW: TRNSYS, Matlab, Flownex, Fluent &

open source.• Primary Grants: DST/NRF solar thermal spoke,

Sasol Sr Researcher, Eskom Chair, SU Hope project, NRF THRIP.

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STERG R&D overview

Italics: On-going R&D

System R&DSystems analysis | Plant

thermodynamic models | Techno-economic analysis | Plant concepts &

design

Dry CoolingDry | Hybrid | Diurnal etc

Heat Transfer Fluids & Storage

CO2 | Air | NaK | Salt | Rock | Metal PCM

Heliostats &Receivers

Control | Drives | Optics | Field | Heat Transfer

Solar Resource

R&DSatellite | Ground

SUNSTEL (SU Solar Thermal Electricity Project)

(Primary technologies: SUNSPOT, LFR, Dish)

OtherBetter SWH |Coal

power augmentat

ion | other…

STERG – Solar Thermal Energy Research GroupPhysical, Social, Mathematical, Political, Statistical Sciences, Geography, Philosophy, etc.

Engineering (ME, EE, others)

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STERG Group at SU

A good base with own labs Moving forward by improving methods and

understanding the technology more deeply Growing networking in SA and worldwide

(SASTELA, SASEC, SolarPACES, DLR, Sandia, NREL, etc.)

Reducing costs, increasing efficiency and reliability in CSP technology

Strengthening our relationship to CSIR Joining and enabling other SA universities in doing

more CSP R&D Supporting national solar R&D plans (roadmaps and

centres) Contract R&D for clients and commercialization

Strategic activities at STERG

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Specific technology focus on:

Central Receiver Systems with different Heat Transfer Fluids (e.g. liquid salt, liquid metals and air)

Parabolic Trough and Fresnel with liquid salt Thermal Energy Storage Systems with different

HTF Component development in Solar fields

(Heliostats and Trough) Optimization on Balance of Plant

(Equipment and Process) Technical and economical evaluation of CSP

technologies

Potential future strategic focus areas

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View to the world:

SA is one of the best sun spots in the world Current situation in Europe and US gives SA a

chance to catch up CSP can deliver dispatch-able energy and support

SA electricity production reliably Creating new jobs for new talents for a CSP rollout

in SA and worldwide CSP awareness is improving in government

Outlook

“Let´s make SA a winner within CSP”

www.sun.ac.za/STERGe-mail: frankdinter@sun.ac.za

Thank you for your attention