Solar radiation attenuation in the path from the heliostats to the receiver is one of the main contributions to production estimation uncertainty in the operation of central-receiver concentrated solar plants (CSP). Few systems are commercially available to monitor this phenomenon and those available have high uncertainties due to the non-uniform attenuation pattern across the wavelength range of the useful solar radiation. In this work, we report the results from a 6-month measurement campaign carried out in a commercial CSP tower plant using a prototype system to measure the spectrally-resolved solar radiation attenuation. The system measures the differential spectrum between two pairs of high-resolution spectrometers (VIS and IR) separated approximately 800 meters and each coupled to a telescope system. Both systems are pointed at a white Lambertian target and regularly take a baseline measurement pointing at a black target to eliminate contributions from the diffuse light present in the solar field. The system is calibrated to <1% uncertainty using the reference of a portable spectrometer at both locations. Full-spectrum measurements were taken every 5 minutes. Spectral characteristics of different atmospheric conditions (suspended dust, fog, humidity) and their intra-day and seasonal evolutions are observed and analyzed.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.