XVIII Iberian Congress and XIV Ibero-American Congress of Solar Energy (CIES 2022)

A special issue of Solar (ISSN 2673-9941).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 10486

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28006 Madrid, Spain
Interests: renewable energy; renewable energy technologies; energy engineering; thermal engineering; energy conversion; power generation; engineering thermodynamics; energy efficiency in building; solar power plants
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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering and Construction, Universitat de les Illes Balears, 07122 Palma, Spain
Interests: solar energy; concentrated solar power; solar optics; ray-tracing; solar cells; energy conversions

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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering and Construction, Universitat de les Illes Balears, 07122 Palma, Spain
Interests: solar energy; hybrid solar panel; thermal engineering; latent heat storage; phase change materials; thermodynamics; energy harvesting

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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering and Construction, Universitat de les Illes Balears, 07122 Palma, Spain
Interests: solar energy; energy systems; renewable energy technologies; energy saving; energy efficiency in building; zero energy buildings

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Solar energy, thermal and photovoltaic, is, today, a renewable energy alternative to wind in terms of renewable resource and management. The scientific community is supporting continuous advances in improving known technologies and totally disruptive concepts.

Some examples of new advances are improvements to new cell concepts, new thermal fluids, new thermodynamic cycle concepts, etc. Collecting information on these new advances in CSP is one of the goals of this Special Issue, focusing on the following ideas:

  • solar thermal energy
  • photovoltaics
  • energy management and storage
  • solar resource
  • sustainable solar buildings
  • smart solar communities and cities
  • education, software, training and teaching of renewable energies
  • solar energy for the development and improvement of society

Prof. Dr. Javier Muñoz Antón
Prof. Dr. Ramón Pujol-Nadal
Prof. Dr. Iván Alonso de Miguel
Prof. Dr. Andreu Antoni Moià Pol
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Solar is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • solar thermal
  • solar photovoltaics
  • renewable energy
  • solar energy storage and management
  • smart cities

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 7106 KiB  
Article
Solar Resource and Energy Demand for Autonomous Solar Cooking Photovoltaic Systems in Kenya and Rwanda
by João P. Cardoso, António Couto, Paula A. Costa, Carlos Rodrigues, Jorge Facão, David Loureiro, Anne Wambugu, Sandra Banda, Izael Da Silva and Teresa Simões
Solar 2023, 3(3), 487-503; https://doi.org/10.3390/solar3030027 - 05 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1312
Abstract
The challenges associated with traditional cooking methods in African countries, particularly the use of firewood and charcoal, which have negative impacts on the environment, health and human and economic development and safety, are addressed in this work. Given the high annual solar irradiation [...] Read more.
The challenges associated with traditional cooking methods in African countries, particularly the use of firewood and charcoal, which have negative impacts on the environment, health and human and economic development and safety, are addressed in this work. Given the high annual solar irradiation on the African continent, photovoltaic-powered electric cooking alternatives, such as electric pressure cookers (EPCs), are identified as a potential efficient, clean and affordable cooking solution. This work focuses on the potential of standalone solar electric cookers for use in rural African locations, namely, if this type of solution can satisfy cooking demand. Surveys and experimental data from several households in two different countries (Rwanda and Kenya) were collected. Specifically, the researchers performed a survey regarding cooking habits and an experimental campaign to determine real energy consumption profiles of EPCs. The main results are analyzed and discussed in this work. An assessment of the solar power capability to directly supply the EPCs’ energy demand, as determined from the experimental data, is performed. The findings indicate that, for the most commonly prepared food types, using EPCs saves considerable time in comparison with traditional cooking methods. In Rwanda, time savings range from 55% to 84%, while in Kenya, the time saved varies from 9% to 64%. Results show that, even for scenarios with high installed solar capacity, storage solutions are required to enable the PV-powered EPC system to supply more than 50% of meal demand. Full article
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30 pages, 16918 KiB  
Article
Towards Positive Energy Districts: Energy Renovation of a Mediterranean District and Activation of Energy Flexibility
by Ilaria Marotta, Thibault Péan, Francesco Guarino, Sonia Longo, Maurizio Cellura and Jaume Salom
Solar 2023, 3(2), 253-282; https://doi.org/10.3390/solar3020016 - 06 May 2023
Viewed by 1885
Abstract
The paper presents the analysis of energy retrofitting, integration of renewable energy and activation of energy flexibility in a cluster of buildings in the surroundings of a port on the Mediterranean Sea in Southern Italy, with the aim of checking the potential for [...] Read more.
The paper presents the analysis of energy retrofitting, integration of renewable energy and activation of energy flexibility in a cluster of buildings in the surroundings of a port on the Mediterranean Sea in Southern Italy, with the aim of checking the potential for it to achieve the status of positive energy district (PED). The objective of this study is to improve the contemporaneity between local energy generation and energy demand and reduce CO2eq emissions by considering signals that reflect the environmental variability of the electricity grid, through flexibility solutions applied to the HVAC system. The proposed scenarios are based on the dynamic simulation of the district and analyze the effect of actions that activate the energy flexibility of buildings through advanced control strategies of the air conditioning system. The results show that the joint action of energy efficiency strategies, integration of solar energy and energy flexibility improves the environmental sustainability of the district and the balance of energy flows. Specifically, the activation of energy flexibility contributes to a 10% reduction in operational CO2eq emissions and increases in self-consumption of energy per year. The operational emissions of the district vary from the base value of 33.37 tons CO2eq/y to 19.52 tons CO2eq/y in the scenario based on the integration of solar energy systems and energy efficiency measures, and to 17.39 tons CO2eq/y when also the demand-side energy flexibility is activated. Full article
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11 pages, 1164 KiB  
Article
Optical Characterization of a New Facility for Materials Testing under Concentrated Wavelength-Filtered Solar Radiation Fluxes
by Noelia Estremera-Pedriza, Jesús Fernández-Reche and Jose A. Carballo
Solar 2023, 3(1), 76-86; https://doi.org/10.3390/solar3010007 - 01 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1697
Abstract
The materials used to manufacture solar receivers for tower power plants must withstand high fluxes of concentrated solar radiation (from 0.1 to even 1.5 MWm2) and operate at high operating temperatures (>800 °C). Durability is a key aspect in these [...] Read more.
The materials used to manufacture solar receivers for tower power plants must withstand high fluxes of concentrated solar radiation (from 0.1 to even 1.5 MWm2) and operate at high operating temperatures (>800 °C). Durability is a key aspect in these systems, which must be ensured under these demanding operating conditions, which also include daily heating–cooling cycles throughout the lifetime of these power plants. So far, to the authors’ knowledge, which wavelengths of concentrated solar radiation have the greatest influence on the mechanisms and speed of aging of materials used in solar receivers has not been analyzed. Yet, such an analysis is pertinent in order to implement strategies that delay or inhibit such phenomena, and, thus, increase the durability of central tower systems’ receivers. To perform such analyses, a new solar furnace was recently designed and installed at the Plataforma de Almería (Spain). This paper describes the components of this new solar furnace. The components are as follows: a heliostat to redirect the direct solar radiation towards a Fresnel lens that concentrates the solar radiation on the material under study, a shutter that allows varying the amount of concentrated solar radiation incident on the Fresnel lens, and reflective filters with selective reflectance that are placed between the Fresnel lens and the material. This paper also describes the procedure and the first results of the energetic and spectral characterization of this new solar furnace. The first experimental results of the characterization of this new test bed using the heliostat and the Fresnel lens showed that concentration ratios of up to 1000 suns (1 sun = 1000 Wm2) could be achieved. Furthermore, the paper presents the results of the spectral characterization of the test system, using selective reflectance mirrors in the near-visible–IR wavelength range (400–1125 nm) and in the visible–IR red region (700–2500 nm). Full article
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12 pages, 1388 KiB  
Article
Modeling and Energy Management of a Microgrid Based on Predictive Control Strategies
by Alex Omar Topa Gavilema, Juan D. Gil, José Domingo Álvarez Hervás, José Luis Torres Moreno and Manuel Pérez García
Solar 2023, 3(1), 62-73; https://doi.org/10.3390/solar3010005 - 10 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2098
Abstract
This work presents the modeling and energy management of a microgrid through models developed based on physical equations for its optimal control. The microgrid’s energy management system was built with one of the most popular control algorithms in microgrid energy management systems: model [...] Read more.
This work presents the modeling and energy management of a microgrid through models developed based on physical equations for its optimal control. The microgrid’s energy management system was built with one of the most popular control algorithms in microgrid energy management systems: model predictive control. This control strategy aims to satisfy the load demand of an office located in the CIESOL bioclimatic building, which was placed in the University of Almería, using a quadratic cost function. The simulation scenarios took into account real simulation parameters provided by the microgrid of the building. For case studies of one and five days, the optimization was aimed at minimizing the input energy flows of the microgrid and the difference between the energy generated and demanded by the load, subject to a series of physical constraints for both outputs and inputs. The results of this work show how, with the correct tuning of the control strategy, the energy demand of the building is covered through the optimal management of the available energy sources, reducing the energy consumption of the public grid, regarding a wrong tuning of the controller, by 1 kWh per day for the first scenario and 7 kWh for the last. Full article
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13 pages, 3521 KiB  
Article
Measuring Concentrated Solar Radiation Flux in a Linear Fresnel-Type Solar Collector
by Jesús Fernández-Reche, Loreto Valenzuela and Diego Pulido-Iparraguirre
Solar 2022, 2(4), 401-413; https://doi.org/10.3390/solar2040024 - 23 Sep 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2134
Abstract
Linear Fresnel solar collectors are a promising and emerging solution to contribute to renewable heat supply in industrial processes with thermal energy demand in the medium temperature range (<250 °C). An innovative linear Fresnel collector (LFC) prototype has been designed, patented, and built [...] Read more.
Linear Fresnel solar collectors are a promising and emerging solution to contribute to renewable heat supply in industrial processes with thermal energy demand in the medium temperature range (<250 °C). An innovative linear Fresnel collector (LFC) prototype has been designed, patented, and built at the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA), Spain. This work presents the applied methodology, experimental device, and results obtained in the measurement of the flux density of concentrated solar radiation in the focal plane of the solar collector. The experimental results confirm that an average flux density of (9.8 ± 0.6) kW/m2 was obtained with a direct normal solar irradiance of (870 ± 10) W/m2 in tests performed in May 2002, which is a result similar to that obtained in optical simulations of the system. Full article
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