Thermal Performance Testing of Solar Steam Generator 4 at AREVA Solar’s Kimberlina Demonstration Facility

The Kimberlina Solar Thermal Power Station in Bakersfield, California, is AREVA Solar’s first North American solar thermal energy facility and an important showcase of AREVA’s Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) technology. Construction of a fourth solar steam generator (SSG4) was completed at Kimberlina in August 2010. At the time SSG4 represented AREVA Solar’s most current commercial technology, designed for direct superheat steam generation. SSG4 incorporates technology advancements that significantly enhance the AREVA Solar technology’s controllability, steam temperature and pressure capabilities as well as overall performance. After SSG4 was commissioned, AREVA Solar carried out an extensive performance test program on this advanced technology to formally evaluate and quantify its measured performance and compare that to the model-predicted performance. The performance testing included two specific tests. The first was the Steady State Performance Test (SSPT), which evaluated the technology’s steady-state performance over a two-hour period on multiple days. The second test was the Entire Day Performance Test (EDPT), which evaluated the technology’s performance throughout an entire day, including overnight losses, startup, mid-day performance (including steady-state, quasi steady-state and transients) and shutdown. The third test demonstrated the technology’s response to a simulated direct normal insolation (DNI) transient. AREVA Solar took great care to design and perform this testing in a standardized manner that would stand up to independent, expert observation and was consistent with established ASME performance test codes (PTC), where applicable. AREVA Solar plans to implement this testing methodology in future commercial plants and technology demonstrations. This paper documents in detail the performance testing methodology used to evaluate AREVA Solar’s new technology, including: • Test prerequisites; • Performance (both measured and modeled) calculation equations; • Environmental and optical surface measurement techniques; • Measurement test success criteria; • Uncertainty calculation and implementation. This paper also documents the measured testing results relative to the AREVA Solar internal modeled results including follow-up model validation.