POWERGRAMS

RESEARCH Commission unanimously approved the company's proposal to secure up to 500 megawatts of renewable generation, including solar energy, over the next six years. Predicts2 will help ensure that energy reliability is not compromised. "If you're counting on a certain output from a solar farm 10 years from now," said EPRI's Stan Rosinski, "how can you have a reasonable estimate or assurance that it is going to perform as you expect it to?" The project's centerpiece is an environmental chamber that looks like a large walk-in freezer. "It accelerates the aging process," Grieco said of the chamber. "It allows us to control temperature and humidity, to go from minus-40 degrees Celsius to 85 degrees Celsius, and cycle humidity and temperature in whatever way we need it to." The chamber can simulate weather in Alabama and the Southeast, where high heat, humidity and pollen can negatively affect PV performance. Controlled testing is especially important given significant differences among solar panels. "We need to understand how that cycling affects power and performance for a brand new panel and compare the performance with an equivalent panel that's been 'on sun' for a period of time," said Grieco. SR has plenty of those. In 2014, Southern Research and EPRI launched the Southeastern Solar Research Center on campus, where solar panels follow the sun and are open to the elements. "We're exposing them to typical Alabama weather," said Grieco. SR researchers are also developing a calcium-based sorbent that reacts with carbon dioxide to store thermal energy. The application, which first emerged from coal-based power generation, could allow solar thermal electric to operate around the clock. For now, the team will have its hands full subjecting solar panels to the harshest conditions possible. The panels' failure will lead to success. Grieco, left, SR's environmental chamber, right. 46 Photos by Nik Layman SCAN TO WATCH VIDEO EXCERPTS ONLINE.

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