Estelle Le Baron

Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission | CEA · Institut National de l’Énergie Solaire (INES)

During the life time of Concentrated Solar Power plants (CSP), optical performances of solar mirrors are affected by soiling phenomena and surface degradations. In order to provide an adequate cleaning strategy, operators must determine the performance loss induced by soiling. Several commercial instruments already exist to measure optical reflecta...

An intercomparison of opto-thermal spectral measurements has been performed for some relevant receiver materials in concentrating solar thermal applications, from room temperature up to 800 • C. Five European laboratories performed spectral measurements at room temperature, while two laboratories performed infrared spectral measurements at operatin...

Accelerated aging experiments on solar reflectors allow for a more accurate prediction of the materials’ lifespan in a shorter period of time comparing to a study on real-Concentrated solar power (CSP) sites. Accelerated aging tests help to identify which degradations are most likely to occur under the application conditions by assessing the compon...

In the construction industry, low-emissivity glass is used to improve both thermal efficiency and visual comfort by reflecting or transmitting thermal radiation. The solar optical performances of this type of glass are calculated using the ASTM G173 (AM 1.5) solar spectrum, the unique worldwide standard. However, the local atmospheric conditions of...

One of the key challenges for the CSP industry is to offer high-performance solar mirrors lasting two or three decades, at the lowest cost. For CSP, the performance criteria must include a high solar reflectance (up to 90%) with high specular reflection, i.e. the solar flux must reflect with an acceptance angle as small as possible. In this study,...

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) uses large solar fields composed of mirrors coupled with linear or punctual thermal absorbers and glasses, for ensuring insulation or protection. Each component previously cited must reflect, absorb or transmit a large part of the sun's radiative energy. For calculating their respective efficiency, the different organ...

During the life time of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants, optical performance of solar mirrors is affected by soiling phenomena and surface degradation. It is imperative to dissociate soiling that requires cleaning from irreversible degradations which affect the plant performance. In both cases, small degradations or dust deposition cause an o...

Solar mirrors for concentrated solar power (CSP) plants are expected to ensure a proper efficiency during 30 years. Due to this long time, accelerated aging tests of solar materials are crucial to estimate the real degradation in-service. However, most published studies that have been performed in the CSP field are based on standardized tests and a...

Durability tests of solar materials are crucial to guarantee the profitability of the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants and to ensure a proper efficiency during their lifetime. As solar mirrors and absorbers, optical performances of receiver glasses are affected by soiling phenomenon and surface degradations, especially in desert and coastal en...

During the life-time of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants, optical performance of solar mirrors are affected by soiling phenomenon and surface degradations, especially in desert and oceanic environments such as those prevailing in North Africa. This optical loss results from the deposition of dust particles, salts, organic materials or any othe...

CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) plants technologies use the concentration of solar energy on a receiver to produce heat and then electricity by a thermodynamical process. A solar absorber material is used to convert the energy carried by light into heat. This type of material works at high temperatures (up to 1000 °C) under a highly concentrated sol...