Hybrid solar micro gas-turbines are a promising technology for supplying controllable low-carbon electricity in off-grid regions. A thermoeconomic model of three different hybrid micro gas-turbine power plant layouts has been developed, allowing their environmental and economic performance to be analyzed. In terms of receiver design, it was shown that the pressure drop is a key criterion. However, for recuperated layouts, the combined pressure drop of the recuperator and receiver is more important. In terms of both electricity costs and carbon emissions, the internally-fired recuperated micro gas-turbine was shown to be the most promising solution of the three configurations evaluated. Compared to competing diesel generators, the electricity costs from hybrid solar units are between 10% and 43% lower, while specific CO₂ emissions are reduced by 20–35%.

In the framework of the European Optimised Microturbine Solar Power system (OMSoP) project, a novel energy system for solar electricity production was developed, based on the integration of the solar dish technology with Micro Gas Turbines (MGT). A pilot plant with a capacity of 5–7 kW_e was realized and installed at the ENEA Casaccia site (Rome) and went under testing to validate the feasibility of the technology and improve the current design. The present work deals with the development of a quasi-state system model, built in the Engineering Equation Solver environment, composed of different modules that correspond to the main system components. The system model was used to define the optimal system parameters, to help the elaboration on an operational strategy to maximize the overall plant efficiency, and to guide the improvement of the single components in view of their optimised design. From the analysis it emerged that the system in design conditions is able to generate, in nominal conditions, 4.5 kW_e instead of the expected 5 kW_e due to the limitation of the stator current to 13 A, while maximum levels of 5.6 kW could be achieved by “overcharging” the high-speed generator up to 15 A and operating the MGT at the very high speed of 150 krpm. From the transient simulation of the demo system on an annual basis, the maximum average output power is 3.58 kW_e. Regarding the cycle efficiency, the annual averaged value is about 17%, whereas the target value is 21%. The improvement of the generator only does not seem to significantly increase the power output on the annual basis (3.75 kW_e vs. 3.58 kW_e). Differently, the improvement of the solar dish, with the upgrade of the other system components, would significantly increase the system power output to around ~10 kW_e.

A measurement system for the experimental determination of the flux distribution at the focal plane of the KTH high-flux solar simulator was designed and implemented. It is based on a water-cooled Lambertian target and a thermopile flux sensor placed close to the focal point of the solar simulator. Correction factors to account for systematic effects were determined and an uncertainty analysis was performed. The measurement system was successfully used to evaluate the flux distribution of a single lamp/lens-arrangement with a peak flux of 675kW/m2.