The solar energy e-learning laboratory (solar elab) in Cyprus is a good example of a web-based, remote engineering laboratory. It comprises a pilot solar energy conversion plant which is equipped with all necessary instrumentation, data acquisition, and communication devices needed for remote access, control, data collection and processing. The impact that the solar e-lab had during its nearly ...

The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study Phase 1 (WWSIS1) investigated the impacts of high penetrations of wind and solar power on the Western Interconnection of the United States. The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study Phase 2 (WWSIS2) built on Phase 1 but with far greater refinement in the level of data inputs and production simulation. It considered the differences between wind and...

— CSP technologies are well developed and offer many advantages compared to other renewable energy options. They can also be very effective in many locations with high solar radiation around the world. However today they are less competitive than other technologies. Understanding the limitations, and identifying opportunities for improvements, requires a detailed analysis of the energy conversi...

This paper shows the application of robust control techniques to a solar plant integrated in an air conditioning system. Different structures in an specific loop are applied, because of the complexity of the whole system. Besides the classical feedback loop, the plant controller includes also a feed forward one to reject measurable disturbances as radiation. The design methodology and some simu...

As interest for clean renewable electric power technologies grows, a number of parabolic trough power plants of various configurations are being considered for deployment around the globe. It is essential that plant designs be optimized for each specific application. The optimum design must consider the capital cost, operations and maintenance cost, annual generation, financial requirements, an...

A solar chimney is designed and tested to pump outside air through an underground cooling tube during summer for building cooling. Both theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the solar chimney can be used to power the underground cooling system during daytime without use of electricity. This paper presents the theoretical design principals of the solar chimney, detailed experim...

The expanded growth model is developed to describe accumulation of plant biomass (Mg ha(-1)) and mineral elements (kg ha(-1)) in with calendar time (wk). Accumulation of plant biomass with calendar time occurs as a result of photosynthesis for green land-based plants. A corresponding accumulation of mineral elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium occurs from the soil through plant ...

Due to the rapid increase in deployment and high penetration of solar power generation worldwide, solar power generation forecasting has become critical to variable generation integration planning, and within utility and independent system operator (ISO) operations. Utilities and ISOs require day ahead and hour ahead as well as intra-hour solar power forecasts for core operations solar power pr...

This paper deals with the optimal operational strategy of a reverse osmosis (RO) plant for remote sites. The electricity supply to these plants comes usually from renewable energies (wind and solar), when they are not temporarily available, they are complemented by a diesel generator and batteries. The water demand of small settlements in arid regions suffers strong variations along a day. As t...