Long-duration acceptance test for an operating integrated solar combined cycle solar field

The commercial concern in performance testing validation increases due to the enlargement of the concentrating solar power production. Unfortunately, no common approach or test code exists worldwide for this principle. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers and others are currently developing standards for concentrated solar power plants that have not come to fruition yet. In this study, the long-duration performance acceptance test was carried out for the integrated solar combined cycle solar field of Kurymat, Egypt. The work included measurement of meteorological and operational data, calculation of the thermal energy output, and auxiliary energy consumption of parabolic trough (PT) solar field during consecutive 14 days with 88 total operating hours, to verify the predicted performance metrics under specified test conditions. The testing procedures, model formulation and measured data uncertainties of the solar field were conducted. The model predictions and measured results with their uncertainties were compared. The study can be potentially advantageous for the current developing international performance testing codes to validate the proposed acceptance test guidelines of PT solar field.