A public lecture “Concentration of Solar Energy: Solar Tower” was held. The event was organized by the Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture, Geodesy and Land Management of the Faculty of Agriculture.
The lecturer is Andrii Cheilytko, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor at the Institute for Solar Research of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR).
Andrii Cheilytko spoke about the activities and current projects of the German Aerospace Center, which include solar energy research, space and transportation research, the development and use of quantum computers in scientific experiments, and the development of drones for military and civilian use. The current state of the energy sector, the use of renewable energy sources, and the prospects for a complete phase-out of fossil fuels by 2035 were discussed.
The central topic of the lecture was concentrated solar tower power plants. Their advantages, the history of scientific research on solar power plants, the principle of operation of a tower power plant, the classification of receivers, energy losses at receivers, and the specifics of the following components: a pipe receiver, a salt receiver, and a water and steam receiver were discussed.
At the end of the lecture, an interesting discussion took place, in which the issues of comparative efficiency of photovoltaic and concentrated solar power plants, maintenance of power plants, their modernization, and the use of software for modeling solar power plant processes were raised. The lecturer recommended the software development of the Institute for Solar Research – greenius (the green energy system analysis tool), which includes real examples of calculations and power plant layouts, for use in the educational process and research. This program can be downloaded for free on the official website of the German Aerospace Center.