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Wind and Structural Loads on Heliostats
L o a d i n g
Organization
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - view all
Update frequencyunknown
Last updated5 days ago
Overview

Wind loading is a main contributor to structural design costs of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) collectors, such as heliostats. These structures must resist the mechanical forces generated by turbulent wind. At the same time, the reflector surfaces must exhibit the necessary rigidity to maintain their optimal optical performance in windy conditions. In 2024-2025, NLR conducted comprehensive field measurements of the atmospheric turbulent wind conditions and the resulting structural wind loads on heliostats at the Crescent Dunes power plant. The measurement set-up included meteorological masts and structural load sensors on three heliostats. Additionally, we commissioned a lidar scanning the solar field along the north-west quadrant. This data set catalogs the high-resolution data set characterizing the complex flow field and resulting structural loads on heliostats. By providing this first-of-its-kind data set to the CSP community, we aim to enhance the community's understanding of wind-loading experienced by heliostats. This data set will also help design next-generation photovoltaic trackers.

AtmosphereCSPConcentrated SolarCrescent DunesEnergyFluid DynamicsNear-surface air temperatureNevadaPowerStructural LoadingTurbulenceWindWind speedsdataflow fieldoptimal optical perfrmanceparabolic troughprocessed datasolarsolar collectorsolar powerstructural designstructural loadwind conditionswind impactwind load
Additional Information
KeyValue
Dcat Issued2025-12-24T07:00:00Z
Dcat Modified2026-01-07T17:15:02Z
Dcat Publisher NameNational Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR)
Guidhttps://data.openei.org/submissions/8601
Harvest Object Id34e94991-e547-40c0-a623-b63c6cc36e74
Harvest Source Id4eb7107f-a2b1-40e3-b36a-8161aa98a56e
Harvest Source TitleOpenEI Data Portal
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