SOLAR ENERGY

Solar power plants are typically infrastructures made up of various structures such as flat-plate solar trackers, parabolic concentrators or heliostats.

As the solar energy industry has progressed, these structures have become lightweight, flexible and have low damping. These characteristics make these elements susceptible to aeroelastic instabilities leading to catastrophic failures, even at relatively low wind speeds.

Therefore, accurate determination of aerodynamic loads is crucial for predicting the response of these structures, which is key to optimising them and ultimately reducing project costs.

At the IDR/UPM facilities, we have studied both static and aeroelastic effects due to wind loads on a wide range of solar structures for almost all Spanish companies in the sector.

Below are some examples of the relevant consultancy and testing work we have carried out:

	Solar trackers Axone, Monoline 3H and Monoline 2V Bifacial models Static and dynamic tests PV Hardware, 2018

Mono-axial solar tracker Dynamic tests NClave, 2018

	Heliostat for solar thermal tower installation. Ari Solar, 2016

The Solana Generating Station Abengoa Solar, 2011