Skip to main content

Hybrid Solar Receivers

photo diagram of a Hybrid Solar Receiver

Solar thermal energy primarily exists in two pathways: direct electrical production (photovoltaics) or through the production of thermal energy. While photovoltaics (PV) is the cheapest form of solar production of electricity, the relatively high costs of storage cause grid integration issues at high levels of deployment. Solar thermal energy on the other hand is more capital intense but has much lower storage costs. Hybridizing the two systems represents a unique pathway to provide both benefits. We have developed a number of hybridization strategies from nanoparticle fluid filters, dichroic retrofits, and full photovoltaic retrofits.

Support

This work has been supported by the US Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy under award numbers: DE-AR00000463, DE-AR00000508, DE-AR-00000729.

Publications

  1. Wingert R, O’Hern H, Orosz M, Harikumar P, Roberts K, Otanicar T, “Spectral beam splitting retrofit for hybrid PV/T using existing parabolic trough power plants for enhanced power output,” Solar Energy, 202, 2020.
  2. Otanicar TP, Wingert R, Orosz M, McPheeters C, “Concentrating Photovoltaic Retrofit for Existing Parabolic Trough Solar Collectors: Design, Experiments, and Levelized Cost of Electricity,” Applied Energy, 265, 2020.
  3. Goel N, Taylor RA, Otanicar T, “A review of nanofluid-based direct absorption solar collectors: Design considerations and experiments with hybrid PV/Thermal and direct steam generation collectors,” Renewable Energy, 145, 2020.
  4. Tunkara E, DeJarnette D, Saunders AE, Baldwin M, Otanicar T, Roberts KP, “Indium tin oxide and gold nanoparticle solar filters for concentrating photovoltaic thermal systems,” Applied Energy, 252, 2019.
  5. Otanicar T, Dale J, Orosz M, Brekke N, DeJarnette D, Tunkara E, Roberts K, Hari P, “Experimental evaluation of a prototype hybrid CPV/T system utilizing a nanoparticle fluid absorber at elevated temperatures,” Applied Energy, 228, 2018.
  6. Khullar V, Tyagi H, Otanicar T, Hewakuruppu Y, Taylor R, “Solar selective volumetric receivers for harnessing solar thermal energy,” Journal of Heat Transfer, 140(6), 2018.
  7. Brekke N, Dale J, DeJarnette D, Hari P, Orosz M, Roberts K, Tunkara E, Otanicar T, “Detailed performance model of a hybrid/photovoltaic/thermal system utilizing selective spectral nanofluid absorption,” Renewable Energy, 123, 2018.
  8. Tunkara E, DeJarnette D, Muni M, Otanicar T, Roberts K, “Optical properties of colloidal indium tin oxide suspended in a thermal fluid,” The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 122(10), 2018.
  9. Otanicar TP, DeJarnette DD, Hewakuruppu Y, Taylor RA, “Filtering light with nanoparticles: a review of optically selective nanoparticles,” Advances in Optics and Photonics, 8(3), 2016.
  10. Otanicar T, DeJarnette D, Brekke N, Tunkara E, Roberts K, and Harikumar P, “Full spectrum collection of concentrated solar energy using PV coupled with selective filtration utilizing nanoparticles,” MRS Advances, 2016.
  11. Taylor RA, Hewakuruppu Y, DeJarnette D, Otanicar TP, “Comparison of selective transmitters for solar thermal applications,” Applied Optics 55, 2016.
  12. DeJarnette D, Tunkara E, Brekke N, Otanicar TP, Roberts K, “Nanoparticle enhanced spectral filtration of insolation from trough concentrators,” Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 149, 2016.
  13. Brekke N, Otanicar TP, DeJarnette D, Orosz M, “A Parametric Investigation of a Concentrating PV/T System with Spectral Filtering Utilizing a 2-D Heat Transfer Model,” ASME Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 2016.
  14. Saroha S, Mittal T, Modi P, Bhalla V, Khullar V, Otanicar T, Taylor R, “Theoretical Analysis and Testing of Nanofluids-Based Solar Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) Hybrid Collector,” ASME Journal of Heat Transfer 137, 2015.
  15. Hewakuruppu Y, Otanicar T, Coulombe S, Hordy N, Tyagi H, Khullar V, Taylor R, “Limits of selectivity of direct volumetric solar absorption,” Solar Energy 114, 2015.
  16. DeJarnette D, Otanicar T, Brekke N, Hari P, Roberts K, “Selective spectral filtration with nanoparticles for concentrating solar collectors,” Journal of Photonics for Energy 5(1),