Thousands of solar panels

[Leo Maximus]

It also seems to me that it is automated, that seems obvious. But it was closed. No visit. It's the holidays.

It is managed by the PROMES Laboratory of the CNRS. It is a research and training center: https://www.promes.cnrs.fr/

[Grelinette]

... I did not understand the principle of energy storage called "Thermocline (innovative and economical solution)" which compensates for intermittent solar energy ...

I found that : https://www.equipex-socrate.fr/equipeme ... sol-r.html
See the paragraph "Zoom on thermal storage" towards the end.

Thank you for the link. The thermal energy produced is therefore stored with a solid material: alumina in the form of balls 2 cm in diameter in a 4 m3 tank, or 6280 kg. (Alumina: wiki)
Interesting!

Focus on thermal storage
The micro power plant is equipped with an energy storage system essentially consisting of a 4 m3 thermocline tank. This tank has a storage capacity of approximately 220 kWh (operation between 220 and 300 ° C) which corresponds to approximately 1h30 of production at a thermal power of 140 kW. There is no exchanger between the solar collection loop and the storage system: the same fluid is used for the transfer of energy in the collection loop and in the storage system (direct storage).

The thermocline tank, 3,2 m high and 1,28 m in diameter, is partly filled with a solid storage material, alumina, which is in the form of beads 2 cm in diameter. The nature of this material will be changed during the tests because it is one of the research objectives. The total mass of alumina is approximately 6280 kg. The logs are contained over a height of 2,64 m thanks to 4 baskets of identical dimensions. The baskets also allow easy replacement of the solid material (future tests of Cofalit® and other materials from the recycling of industrial by-products). Two buffer volumes at the ends of the tank surround the alumina bed thus created. Diffusers allow homogenization of the oil flow entering the tank. The porosity (ratio of the volume of fluid to the total volume considered) of the alumina bed is approximately 49%. Alumina can store around 105 kWh, oil in the entire tank around 99 kWh, and the rest of the energy is stored by steel (around 1700 kg of steel).

During storage and destocking operations, the transfer fluid (Jarytherm® DBT) passes through the alumina beads and energy exchange takes place between oil and solid and vice versa depending on the phase of the process implemented. At all times the thermocline tank is filled with fluid. A part being at the high temperature of the circuit, a part at the low temperature of the circuit, and the rest being at an intermediate temperature constituting a temperature front. The charging and discharging phases are shown in Figure 5 below.

Figure 5: operation of a thermocline type tank in charge and in discharge.

In order to study this temperature front in detail, the thermocline tank is instrumented in its center with 25 thermocouples spaced 11 cm apart and laterally with four sets of 5 thermocouples spaced 10 cm apart which allow the radial temperature front to be measured at four heights different. Finally, two thermocouples are placed in the buffer volumes, in order to know the average inlet and outlet temperature.

The thermocline tank is completed by conventional storage of the “two tanks” type, consisting of a hot tank and a cold tank, of 1 m3 each, ensuring a storage capacity of around 45 kWh (220-300 ° C ), which corresponds to 20 min of production at a thermal power of 140 kW.

[Leo Maximus]

A priori, this Odeillo storage system was developed by Jean-Francois Hoffmann.

You can download his doctoral thesis entitled "Thermal storage for concentrated thermodynamic solar power plants using natural or recycled ceramic materials"

It's here : https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01284834/document

Jean-Francois Hoffmann (https://fr.linkedin.com/in/jean-fran%C3 ... n-01976a31) went to work in the United Arab Emirates at Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Khalifa University. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masdar_In ... Technology) (no page in French).

[chatelot16]

thermodynamic solar concentrating had its advantages at the time when photovoltaics were too expensive ... but at the current photovoltaic prices thermodynamic solar is of no interest except where the sunshine is very regular

with photovoltaics, when it passes a cloud that cuts direct sunlight, it continues to produce fairly well with diffuse lighting

with concentrated solar thermal diffuse lighting is useless: production drops completely at the slightest little cloud ... and if the bazaar cooled it does not restart as soon as the cloud goes away ... it must be that heated

the thermal engine of a power plant requires much more maintenance than a photovoltaic