Advancements in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Reflectors and SolarSelective Coatings

C.E. Kennedy
1National

Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), 1617 Cole Boulevard, M/S 3321, Golden, CO 80401-3393, 303-384-6272, 303-384-6103 (fax), cheryl_kennedy@nrel.gov

E3 2007 University of Minnesota, MN November 27, 2007

Concentrating Solar Power Technologies

Parabolic Trough Power Tower Dish-Stirling

Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR)

Solar concentration allows tailored design approaches

100kW LCPV Tracking

CPV Heliostat

CPV Winston Collector

Goals for Improved Optical Materials

>90% Specular reflectance into a 4-mrad cone angle
Unofficially 95%

10 - 30 year lifetime
Unofficially 30 y

Manufacturing cost $10.76/m2 ($1/ft2)

1992 Cost Goal Adjusted for inflation to $15.46/m2 ($1.44/ft2) Structural (self-supporting) mirror to $27/m2 ($2.50/ft2)

Technical Approach

Samples supplied by:
Industry Subcontracts Developed in-house Perkin-Elmer (PE) Lambda 9 & 900 UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometers (250-2500 nm) w/ integrating spheres PE IR 883 IR spectrophotometer (2.5-50 m) Devices & Services (D&S) Field Portable Specular Reflectometer (7, 15, & 25-mrad cone angle at 660 nm)

Optical Characterization:

Outdoor (OET) & Accelerated Exposure Testing (AET):

Atlas Ci65 & Ci5000 WeatherOmeters (WOM) (1X & 2X Xenon Arc/60C/60%RH) QPanel QUV (UVA 340@ 290- 340 nm/ 4 h UV at 40 / 4 h dark at 100%RH) 1.4 kW Solar Simulators (SS) (5X Xenon 300-500 nm. 1.4 kW-SS-4 quadrants 2 RH &T, light /dark) BlueM damp heat (85C/85%RH/dark) 3 meterologically monitored sites at Golden, Colorado (NREL), Miami, Florida (FLA), and Phoenix, Arizona (APS)

3 2 1

Parabolic Trough Glass Mirror Architecture

Low-iron Slumped Glass (4- or 5-mm thick) Reflective Layer (wet-silver) Back Layer (Cu)
1st coat Paint Layer (heavy Pb) (2.5% Pb) 2nd coat Paint Layer (heavy Pb) (1% Pb)

Acrylic (w/ high UV stability)

Mactac adhesive Ceramic pad

Three-coat paint system designed for outdoor applications

Original vs. New Flabeg Mirror

Equivalent NREL Exposure Time (years)
9 12 15 18 100 0 3 6 21 24

% Hemispherical Reflectance

95

90

85 0

APS FLA NREL Ci65

10

- OLD - OLD - OLD - OLD

20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Total UV Dose (100 x MJ/m2)

Alternate Thick Glass Mirror Architecture

Low-iron Glass (3- or 4-mm thick flat) Reflective Layer (wet-silver) Back Layer (Cu-less)
1st coat Paint Layer (lead-free <0.15% Pb EU) <1 ppm Pb US) 2nd coat Paint Layer (lead-free <0.15% Pb EU)

<1 ppm Pb US)

Adhesive (PS, spray) Substrate (SS, Al)

Alternate Thick Glass Mirrors

Equivalent NREL Exposure Time (years)
100 0

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

95

% Hemispherical Reflectance

90

85

80

75

70

NREL - Pilkington NREL - Spanish Ci65 - Pilkington Ci65 - Spanish

65 0.0 3.3 6.7 10.0 13.3 16.7 20.0 23.3 26.6 30.0 33.3 36.6 40.0 43.3 46.6 50.0 53.3

Total UV Dose (100 x MJ/m2)

Thin Glass Mirror Architecture

Low-iron Glass (~1 mm- thick) Reflective Layer (wet-silver) Back Layer (Cu) (Cu-less) Paint Layer (Pb) (Pb-free) Adhesive (PS, spray) Substrate (SS, Al) Thin glass mirrors are designed for indoor applications.

Thin Glass Corrosion

Thin Glass Mirror

100 80

% Reflectance

60

(Naug/Clearcoat/966

40

0.0 MO BlueM 3.52 MO BlueM 7.21 MO Ci65 3.16 MO Ci65 6.15 MO NREL 3.82 MO NREL 9.57 MO

20

0 250

500

750

1000

1250

1500

1750

2000

2250

2500

Wavelength (nm)

Aluminized Reflector Architecture

Protective Overcoat Reflectivity-enhancing Oxide PVD Al Reflective Layer Polished Aluminum Substrate

Aluminized Reflectors
NREL Exposure Time (y)
3 4 5 100 0 1 2 6 7

% Hemispherical Reflectance

95

Original Improved Miro2 Improved Miro2 Set#2 Miro/4270kk

90

85

80 0 333 666 999 1332 1665 1998 2331

Total UV Dose (MJ/m2)

Aluminized Reflector Specularity

FLA 11.8 m
Equivalent NREL Exposure Time (years)

NREL 11 m

7-mradian Specular Reflectance at 660 nm

100 0

7 APS FLA NREL Ci65

80

60

APS 27.7 m

40

20

WOM 10.2 m

0 0.0 3.3 Alanod 4270/kk 6.7 10.0 13.3 16.7 20.0 23.3 26.6

Total UV Dose (100 x MJ/m2)

Aluminized Reflector
Specular Reflectance at 7- and 25-mradians at 660 nm of Alanod MiroSun mirrors after accelerated exposure in Blue M (dark / 85oC / 85%RH), WOM (1 sun / 60oC / 60%RH) chambers, and outdoor exposure at NREL, APS, FLA, and Sandia
100

90

80 % Specular Reflectance

70

60

50

40

30 0 3 6 9 12 EXposure Time (Months) 15 18

NREL - 25 mr NREL - 7 mr NREL - SWV APS - 25 mr APS - 7 mr APS - SWV FLA - 25 mr FLA - 7 mr FLA - SWV WOM - 25 mr WOM - 7 mr WOM - SWV Blue M - 25 mr BlueM - 7 mr BlueM - SWV Sandia -25mr 21 24

Silvered Polymer Reflector Architecture

UV-Screening Superstrate Bonding Layer Base Reflector Flexible Polymer Substrate

Silvered Polymer
Equivalent NREL Exposure Time (years)
100 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

% Hemispherical Reflectance

95

90

85

UV-Screen/SS95-NREL ReflecTech A-NREL ReflecTech B-NREL UV-Screen/SS95-WOM ReflecTech A-WOM ReflecTech B-WOM

80

75

70 0 3.3 6.6 9.9 13.2 16.5 19.8 23.1 26.4

Total UV Dose (100 x MJ/m2)

Advanced Selective Coating Goals

Receivers:
4 m long x 70 mm diameter 64 MWe Nevada plant 820 collectors with 24 (96 m) receivers each 19,680 receivers 82 km of receivers (50 mi) 3-4%/yr Failure Rate ~$1000/tube
4.0 3.5 Ideal Solar Selective 100

Blackbody Irradiance (W/m2-nm)

3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 Direct AM 1.5 (0.77 kW/m )

2

500C (3.56 kW/m2)

80

60

400C (1.78 kW/m2) 40

1.0 300C (0.80 kW/m2) 200C (0.31 kW/m2) 1000 10000 0 100000 20 0.5 0.0 100

To develop receiver coatings that have:

Good optical and thermal performance: absorptance () 96%, & emittance () 7% >450C High temperature stability in air at temperatures 550C Manufacturing processes with improved quality control Lower cost

Wavelength (nm)

% Reflectance ()

DOE, the WGA, state RPS mandates, and feed-in tariffs have successfully jump-started growth in CSP technologies that would require 7 to 10 million square meters of reflector and more than 600,000 HCEs over the next 5 years. Commercial glass mirrors, Alanod, and ReflecTech may meet the 10-yr lifetime goals based on accelerated exposure testing. Predicting an outdoor lifetime based on accelerated exposure testing is risky because AET failure mechanisms must replicate those observed by OET. None of the solar reflectors available have been in test long enough to demonstrate the 10-year or more aggressive 30year lifetime goal, outdoors in real-time Emittance excellent & absorptance of modeled coatings is very good but further improvements are expected. However, trade-off exists between emittance and absorptance. Key issue is making the coating and prototype development underway. Patent being pursued

Conclusion

Acknowledgments
Alanod, Glaverbel, Naugatuck, ReflecTech, SAIC, and SES for providing solar reflective samples. Schott and Solel for providing solar selective samples. AZ Technology and Surface Optics Corporation for high-temperature optical measurements . Armstrong World Industries: Dr. J. S. Ross Northeastern University: Dr. Jackie Isaacs Penn State University: Prof. Singh, Tom Medill, and Dale Donner SAIC: Dr. Russell Smilgys and Steve Wallace Stat-Ease: Wayne F. Adams Swisher and Associates: Dick Swisher NREL: Lynn Gedvilas, Gary Jorgensen, Mark Mehos, Judy Netter, Craig Perkins, Hank Price, Kent Terwilliger, and Student interns: Micah Davidson, Anthony Nelson, Michael Milbourne, and Christopher, and Andrea Warrick. DOE supported this work under Contract No. DE-AC36-99GO10337.