solar collectors TEST PLATFORM FOR PARABOLIC THROUGH COLLECTORS
The Advanced Technological Center for Renewable Energy (CTAER) which is a private foundation with several centres in Andalusia is made up of universities, technology centers, public authorities and companies from the renewable energy technologies sector, has as its objective the development of renewable energy technologies. Through a public tender process, CTAER awarded Idom with the contract to start work on the design and construction of the testing facility for the evaluation and characterization of solar collectors of the parabolic through type. Idom has developed the concept in coordination with CTAER, and is now fabricating, assembling, and completing the installation and start-up.
This innovative approach will provide the Centre with R&D+i facilities with different capabilities to those existing in the world, for this type of CSP. This facility will be an addition to the types of central receiver types already available.
The facility allows the sun’s path to be followed, optimizing the development of technologies for better use of solar energy The concept being developed allows the apparent movement of the sun to be followed, thereby achieving greater capacity for testing, evaluation and characterization of thermal optical structural and fluid dynamics of the collectors.
The system offers significant improvements on current testing systems and will permit the experimental verification and validation of proposals for new concepts or changes to existing collector, as well as the testing and validation of standards and procedures, standards of characterization and evaluation of collectors. The new facility, whose construction began in July 2013, will be located in the town of Tabernas (Almería), on the Plain of Retamares where CTAER has 91 ha for their R&D work in the area of concentrated solar technologies, bordering the facilities of the PSA (Plataforma Solar de Almería). Infographics: Iñigo Gutiérrez Artetxe