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Solar (2): Thermal technologies
Speaker abstracts and biographies
Chair: Dr Adrian Panow, Director - Energy Investment, Department of Primary Industries, Victorian State Government
Dr Adrian Panow is the Director Energy Investment within the Victorian State Government Department of Primary Industries (DPI). In this role he leads a team which is responsible for securing private sector investment to deliver on Victorian Government energy policies. The portfolio includes electricity generation from natural gas, wind, solar and wave resources as well as smart grid development. Adrian is also the Director of the recently established Office of Solar Energy
Prior to joining DPI, Adrian was the International Business Development Manager – Bioscience for Bonlac Foods Limited and has held management and board positions in public/private research centres and lectured in biotechnology.
Adrian has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Biochemistry/Applied Chemistry) degree and a PhD (Title: “Microbial Methanogenesis from Carbonaceous Substrates” - an investigation of the scientific and economic facets of the potential for the conversion of black coal waste into methane through bioprocessing). He holds a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration (Executive Business Operations) and is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
The Whyalla Solar Oasis, Australia’s first utility-scale CSP generation plant
The plant will use 300 Wizard Power Big Dish solar thermal concentrators to generate 66GWh of electricity each year; enough electricity to power ~9,500 Australian homes and reduce GHG by 60,000 tonnes/year - an equivalent reduction of ~17,000 cars/year. The Project will deliver the first utility-scale concentrating solar thermal plant to dispatch power to the Australian electricity market and will also assist with the commercialisation of Wizard Power's Australian owned and developed Big Dish concentrating solar thermal technologies.
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Artur Zawadski, General Manager, Wizard Power
Artur Zawadski leads business development for Wizard Power. His experience over the last 20 years includes the establishment of management consulting businesses in Australia and the UK, managing the public sector systems integration practice for a multinational IT services organisation, and the management of infrastructure and systems integration projects in the defence, steel manufacturing, retail and banking sectors.
In addition to his business and project delivery experience, Artur brings expertise in the renewable energy field with postgraduate qualifications in energy studies. Artur is the former Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society (2006 – 2008) and a member of the Australian Institute of Energy.
Molten Salt Storage in Solar Thermal Power Systems
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems are being developed in plant capacities up to 250 MWe in the U.S. and internationally. Parabolic trough and power towers use thermal energy from concentrating collectors to generate steam at high temperatures to drive steam turbine cycle power blocks. Through the use of large molten salt thermal energy storage systems, the collected thermal energy can be dispatched as needed to tailor plant output to better match electricity demand during the day or evening, to buffer the effects of intermittent clouds, and to significantly increase the plant capacity factor.
Commercially viable today, ongoing R&D on advanced thermal storage systems is also underway in the U.S. and Europe to improve thermal storage effectiveness and lower costs. Operating and planned storage systems will be cited, economics reviewed, and long-term projections presented.
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Dr David Kearney, Principal and President, Kearney & Associates, USA
David Kearney is widely recognised as an international expert in trough technology and solar power plant development. Since his participation in the development of the SEGS CSP plants in the 1980s, he has evaluated solar thermal electric plant sites, solar resource, technical and economic feasibility, O&M requirements and molten salt thermal storage utilisation for a variety of industry, institutional and utility clients. Activities span both US and European activities in the field.
David championed early innovations on the cost-effective use of molten salt in trough power plants. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and is a Fellow in the American Solar Energy Society.
Andasol 3: Installation of parabolic trough collectors
- More than 7,000 collectors installed with a total weight of over 18,000 tons
Construction of the power plant block is also proceeding on schedule. Work is currently in progress on completing the turbine deck where the steam turbine will later be installed. The turbine itself is already undergoing final acceptance at MAN Diesel & Turbo, the manufacturer. It consists of a high-pressure and a low-pressure machine and was developed and optimised specially for use in Andasol. "Unlike conventional power plants, a turbine for solar operation must be designed to be stopped and started each day according to the availability of the steam," says Herbert Spelleken, the project manager responsible at Flagsol, the joint venture of Solar Millennium and Ferrostaal, to explain the special nature of the plant. The 160 ton giant is planned to begin its long journey to Spain by ship and special truck in late June where ultimate installation in the power plant block will take place. At the same time pipe laying and cabling work will continue on the solar field. The power plant is then scheduled to feed solar power into the Spanish power grid from mid-2011.
Andasol 3 is the third power plant which Solar Millennium has developed at this location, a plateau between Granada and Almeria. The plant will generates an output of 50 megawatts, which together with the sister plants Andasol 1 and 2 located in the immediate vicinity, will supply some half a million people with environmentally-friendly electricity. This will enable approximately 450,000 tons of carbon dioxide to be saved per year compared to a modern coal-fired power station. Thanks to their thermal storage systems, the power plants can also supply solar power on a despatchable basis even after the sun has set.
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James Harding, General Manager Renewables - IPS Australia / Ferrostaal
James Harding is General Manager Renewables at IPS Australia, the Australian subsidiary and business platform of Germany's Ferrostaal AG. James has over 25 years experience in the international project business, having been involved with the development, structuring and financing of major capital projects around the world. He has worked in the UK and Germany, Indonesia and Thailand, and has since August 2008 been assigned to head up Ferrostaal's business development effort in Australia in the key renewables sector.
Ferrostaal is a major project development, engineering and contracting company operating on a global basis. The company has specific capabilities in the field of large scale solar thermal, through its exclusive access to three related but distinct technologies:
- Flagsol (formerly MAN Solar Millennium) provides the Parabolic Trough. With a bankable capacity range between 50 and 250MW and thermal energy storage, this mature technology is well-placed to provide baseload solar power on utility scale;
- Solar Power Group (SPG) provides its Linear Fresnel collectors, which generate high temperature superheated steam. Fresnel projects are being developed in the 5-20MW range;
- eSolar provides its award-winning Solar Tower technology for applications up to 50MW and beyond.
Concentrating solar power in southern Italy - from research to industrial applications
This is a result of joint efforts between research centers, public institutions and organizations, and private companies. A 50 MW CSP plant, which works with parabolic trough collectors, with mineral oils as heat transfer fluids, HTF, and with a molten salts thermal storage is planned to be realized in south Sardinia. In the same Region, and due to investments in R&D, an innovative CSP demonstrator with gaseous HTF and with a pebble bed as heat storage is under realization. Other investments in R&D, mainly made by ENEA, were bringing to the opening, in Sicily, of a molten salt CSP plant which is run by the Italian national electric company. A schematic presentation of these systems, together with planned activities, will be given and commented.
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Bruno D'Aguanno, Center for Advanced Studies, Research and Development in Sardinia, Pula, Cagliari, Italy
Bruno D'Aguanno is responsible, both scientifically and administratively, for the Renewable Energy Program of Crs4, a Research Center located in Sardinia, Italy. The Program is heavily based on financial support from European and National Projects, as well as from national industry. The Program aims to produce models and software tools for materials, devices and systems of relevance in the energy area, with emphasis on fuel cells, hydrogen and on solar energy technologies.
Bruno’s current research interests include the development of models and algorithms for the design of fuel cells, solar ponds (for heat storage), nano and mesoscopic materials (carbon nanostructures and polymeric membranes), as well as the development of models for competitive concentrated solar power applications. Prior to undertaking his current position, Bruno was temporarily an Assistant Professor at the Physics Department of the Konstanz University, Germany, and a Scientific Employee at the Condensed Matter Department of the Free University of Berlin, Germany.
