Please find below the commentary, reflecting the statistical information on the array of publications in Concentrated Solar Power, dated 2017. All of them have been preselected from Google Scholar database with the help of typical keywords. The present list contains 994 papers, written by 875 investigators from 78 countries as authors or contributors. These scientific studies in their entirety are available in our Library section on the website Advanced Energy Technologies.
Chinese investigators ranked first among the most frequently mentioned authors of the scientific publications, accounting for 14% of the total. They were trailed by the residents of Spain with 9.5% and the United States with 8.2%. A sizable portion of the publications had resulted from collaborative studies of scientists, residing in various states. Therefore, the overall number of declared authors from different countries did not coincide with the total quantity of publications.
Top 10 countries by research activity
Source: Advanced Energy Technologies
All kinds of technological approaches in Solar Power were explored by scientists in almost equal measure, if compared. Nevertheless, Solar tower, Parabolic trough, Linear Fresnel reflector, Concentrator photovoltaics, as well as some other general issues in technology were in higher demand, rating to more than 10% of cases for each topic. The most frequent problems, dealing with High costs of maintenance, were mentioned in 502 papers that equated to 23% of the overall problems. Along with that, the challenges of low efficiency, namely, Low efficiency of secondary equipment, Low efficiency in general, Low efficiency of optics or absorber, and Low efficiency due to environmental factors, were discussed more frequently.
Distribution of scientific papers on problems
Source: Advanced Energy Technologies
HCM - High costs of maintenance; LEG - Low efficiency in general; LESE - Low efficiency of secondary equipment; LEOA - Low efficiency of optics or absorber; LEEF - Low efficiency due to environmental factors; HCG- High costs in general; AOP - Administrative and organizational problems; LESM - Low efficiency due to solar movement; ESI - Environmental and social impact; HCEP - High costs of equipment production; HCPC - High costs of plant construction; HCRR - High costs of repair and replacement; UP - Unclear problem
Top 10 organizations by the number of publications
| Status | Country | Name | Total, 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organization | CN | Xi’an Jiaotong University | 27 |
| Organization | DE | Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) | 26 |
| Organization | GR | National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) | 18 |
| Organization | US | National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) | 16 |
| Organization | CN | UCAS University of Chinese Academy of Sciences | 16 |
| Organization | ZA | University of Stellenbosch | 16 |
| Organization | CN | NCEPU North China Electric Power University | 14 |
| Organization | ES | Plataforma Solar de Almeria | 14 |
| Organization | IR | University of Tehran | 14 |
| Organization | ES | Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT) | 13 |
Source: Advanced Energy Technologies
Among equipment components, Optics and Receivers were the main subjects for study by all of the top leaders. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) devoted a significant part of its investigations to Energy storage. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR in short), the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) and the University of Stellenbosch paid special attention to trackers, but the North China Electric Power University (NCEPU), the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and the University of Stellenbosch, mentioned above, explored some technical aspects of Heat Removal, additionally.
Distribution of scientific papers on technologies elements among Top-10 research organizations
Source: Advanced Energy Technologies
CS - Control systems; ES - Energy storage; HR - Heat removal; O - Optics; OAE- Other auxiliary equipment; R- Receivers; SE - Structural elements; SW - System as a whole; TPG - Turbines and other power generation; TR -Trackers
As usual, scientific articles prevailed over other forms of publications (Press releases, Technical reports, Presentations and reviews, etc.). Research, Methodology and Modeling were most frequently encountered in the contents of papers, though Technology and Equipment Data and Infrastructure, Resources, Projects and Legislation also occupied a significant place.
A considerable number of papers were published beyond any specialized online database. At another point, such online journals as Solar Energy, Applied Energy, Energy Conversion and Management, Applied Thermal Engineering, Renewable Energy, Energy Proscenia, Energy, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews presented most of the scientific papers, related to online publishing platform Science Direct.
