Description
Wind loading is a main contributor to structural design costs of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) collectors, such as heliostats and parabolic troughs. These structures must resist the mechanical forces generated by turbulent wind. At the same time, the reflector surfaces must exhibit the necessary rigidity to maintain their optimal optical performance in windy conditions.
Over two years, NREL conducted comprehensive field measurements of the atmospheric turbulent wind conditions and the resulting structural wind loads on parabolic troughs at the Nevada Solar One (NSO) plant. The measurement set-up included meteorological masts and structural load sensors on four trough rows. Additionally, we commissioned a lidar scanning the horizontal plane over the trough field.
This data set catalogs the high-resolution data set characterizing the complex flow field and resulting structural loads on parabolic trough collectors. By providing this first-of-its-kind data set to the CSP community, we aim to enhance the community's understanding of wind-loading experienced by CSP collector structures. This data set will also help design next-generation solar collectors and photovoltaic trackers.
Resources
| Name | Format | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind and Loads Data on AWS | HTML | Data lake with wind and loads data gathered between 2021-2023 on parabolic troughs at the NSO power plant in Nevada. | Open resource |
| Wind and Loads Data Documentation | Markdown | Github documentation for the wind and loads dataset that includes data documentation, the structure of the directory, and other useful information. | Open resource |
| Data Access Demonstration Script | Python | Jupyter Notebook with routines to access and visualize the wind (Met-Tower and Lidar) and loads on parabolic troughs at NSO power plant | Open resource |
| OEDI Data Registry on AWS | HTML | AWS public dataset program registry page for data released under the Department of Energy's (DOE) Open Energy Data Initiative (OEDI). The registry page contains information about dataset documentation, access, and contact, for each of the OEDI Data Lake datasets. | Open resource |