The Graz Cycle, a hydrogen oxygen fired double loop high temperature steam cycle, combining gas turbine philosophy with steam plant praxis, can be adapted for combustion of methane with oxygen. The resulting combustion products carbon dioxide and hydrogen oxide, i.e. high temperature steam, are mixed with cooling steam and expanded to lowest pressure and temperature. By condensing the steam, se...

A model predictive control strategy for a concentrated solar thermal power plant is proposed. Design of the proposed controller is based on an estimated linear time-invariant state space model around a nominal operating point. The model is estimated directly from inputoutput data using the subspace identification method and taking into account the frequency response of the plant. Input-output d...

[1] The emerging interdisciplinary approaches of ecohydrology and hydropedology are sensitive to variation in soil-surface energy inputs, which are primarily modified by topography and woody plant canopies. Yet a synthesis of the interactive effects of these two modification types is lacking. We systematically estimated near-ground surface solar radiation inputs as modified by key attributes of...

BACKGROUND The extraction of salt from seawater by means of coastal solar salterns is a very well-described process. Moreover, the characterization of these environments from ecological, biochemical and microbiological perspectives has become a key focus for many research groups all over the world over the last 20 years. In countries such as Spain, there are several examples of coastal solar sa...

Surface solar radiation forecasting permits to predict photovoltaic plant production for a massive and safe integration of solar energy into the electric network. For short-term forecasts (intra-day), methods using images from meteorological geostationary satellites are more suitable than numerical weather prediction models. Forecast schemes consist in assessing cloud motion vectors and in extr...

We study the economic viability and optimal sizing and siting of a hybrid plant that combines a ringwall hydro storage system with wind and solar power plants (ringwall storage hybrid power plant, RSHPP). A real options model is introduced to analyze the economics of an onshore RSHPP, and in particular of the varying storage volume in light of the stochastic character of wind and solar power, a...

The article describes the design phase, development and practical application of a low-cost control system for a forced circulation solar plant in an outdoor test cell located near Milan. Such a system provides for the use of an electric pump for the circulation of heat transfer fluid connecting the solar thermal panel to the storage tank. The running plant temperatures are the fundamental para...