Purpose [1] Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is issuing this request for information (RFI) to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on potential use of the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) for projects related to Concentrating Solar Power (CSP). Specifically, this RFI will inform about which capabilities are most critical for potential projects that could utilize the expertise and testing facilities at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) at SNL in Albuquerque, NM and how the facility may accommodate those projects. The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) has provided the NSTTF, a core DOE capability facility, an opportunity to interface with one/several CSP research or industry entities to advance CSP research and make it more viable for market penetration. This is solely a request for information and not a funding opportunity announcement (FOA). No funding applications are being accepted in response to this RFI. Disclaimer and Important Notes This RFI is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA); therefore, SNL is not accepting applications at this time. SNL may issue a FOA in the future based on or related to the content and responses to this RFI; however, SNL may also elect not to issue a FOA. There is no guarantee that a FOA will be issued as a result of this RFI. Responding to this RFI does not provide any advantage or disadvantage to potential applicants if SNL chooses to issue a FOA regarding the subject matter. Final details, including the anticipated award size, quantity, and timing of SNL funded awards, will be subject to Congressional appropriations and direction through the EERE office. Any information obtained as a result of this RFI is intended to be used by SNL, a Federally Funded Research Development Center, on a non-attribution basis for planning and strategy development; this RFI does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or abstracts. Your response to this notice will be treated as information only. SNL, in cooperation with EERE, will review and consider all responses in its formulation of program strategies for the identified materials of interest that are the subject of this request. SNL or EERE will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred in responding to this RFI. Respondents are advised that SNL is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI. Responses to this RFI do not bind SNL or EERE to any further actions related to this topic. Proprietary Information Because information received in response to this RFI may be used to structure future programs and FOAs and/or otherwise be made available to the public, respondents are strongly advised to NOT include any information in their responses that might be considered business sensitive, proprietary, or otherwise confidential. If, however, a respondent chooses to submit business sensitive, proprietary, or otherwise confidential information, it must be clearly and conspicuously marked as such in the response. Responses containing confidential, proprietary, or privileged information must be conspicuously marked as described below. Failure to comply with these marking requirements may result in the disclosure of the unmarked information under the Freedom of Information Act or otherwise. The U.S. Federal Government and SNL is not liable for the disclosure or use of unmarked information, and may use or disclose such information for any purpose. If your response contains confidential, proprietary, or privileged information, you must include a cover sheet marked as follows identifying the specific pages containing confidential, proprietary, or privileged information: Notice of Restriction on Disclosure and Use of Data: Pages [List Applicable Pages] of this response may contain confidential, proprietary, or privileged information that is exempt from public disclosure. Such information shall be used or disclosed only for the purposes described in this RFI [Enter RFI Number]. The Government may use or disclose any information that is not appropriately marked or otherwise restricted, regardless of source. In addition, (1) the header and footer of every page that contains confidential, proprietary, or privileged information must be marked as follows: “Contains Confidential, Proprietary, or Privileged Information Exempt from Public Disclosure” and (2) every line and paragraph containing proprietary, privileged, or trade secret information must be clearly marked with double brackets or highlighting. Evaluation and Administration by Federal and Non-Federal Personnel Federal employees are subject to the non-disclosure requirements of a criminal statute, the Trade Secrets Act, 18 USC 1905. The Government may seek the advice of qualified non-Federal personnel. The Government may also use non-Federal personnel to conduct routine, nondiscretionary administrative activities. The respondents, by submitting their response, consent to EERE providing their response to non-Federal parties. Non-Federal parties given access to responses must be subject to an appropriate obligation of confidentiality prior to being given the access. Submissions may be reviewed by support contractors and private consultants. Introduction Operated by Sandia National Laboratories for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) is the only test facility of this type in the United States. The NSTTF’s primary goal is to provide experimental engineering data for the design, construction, and operation of unique components and systems in proposed solar thermal electrical plants planned for large-scale power generation. In addition, the site was built and instrumented to provide test facilities for a variety of solar and nonsolar applications. The facility can provide: high heat flux and temperatures for materials testing or aerodynamic heating simulation; large fields of optics for astronomical observations or satellite calibrations; a solar furnace; and a rotating platform for parabolic trough evaluation. For more information regarding the NSTTF please visit the website at: https://energy.sandia.gov/energy/renewable-energy/solar-energy/csp-2/ CSP Testing and Design Capabilities The NSTTF was founded in 1978 and began testing with high heat flux during that same year. The site has and is currently supporting all aspects of CSP including: optics (heliostats, dishes, metrology), high temperature receivers, balance of plant systems, heat transfer fluids/media, and heat flux measurement. Experts at the facility are currently working on projects to develop and commercialize falling particle receivers, high temperature salt systems, aerial drone utilization for metrology and alignment, and heliostat designs. The current test facilities include a solar tower and heliostat field with maximum heat flux input of 250 W/cm2, a solar furnace with a maximum heat flux input of 600 W/cm2, a solar simulator with a maximum heat flux input of 120 W/cm2, an optical metrology laboratory, and high temperature ovens. The CSP team has studied and designed components and materials to withstand the intense heating conditions and is a world leader in CSP research. The facility is funded by the Department of Energy and supports customers with projects awarded from the DOE, as well as industrial partners and other government entities. In the past 40 years, the NSTTF has been intimately involved in the research, design, fabrication, and testing of many of the critical CSP technologies that have allowed costs to dramatically reduce from conception. The NSTTF worked to make the SEGS parabolic trough plants successful, worked with the Solar One and Solar Two facilities for successful implementation, and now working on developing the key technology pathways identified by SETO for Generation 3 technologies. Optics Research Capabilities The National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) has an extensive research capability in the field of optical analysis and development. The NSTTF has optical facilities and tools that help researchers achieve optical studies in the area of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP). The CSP team has the Optics Lab, which is a local laboratory at the NSTTF site. The lab is capable of studying optical characterization of heliostat and dish facets. With the help of optical tools like AIMFAST and SOFAST, the CSP team can study and develop optical methods for heliostat designs. The tools are also applicable to assembly/production line environments. In addition, field support for characterization and alignment of CSP systems is provided. SOFAST, a highly accurate fringe-reflection-based measurement tool, is used to characterize and set the focus heliostat facets in the laboratory. HFACET is an optical-based alignment tool that is used to efficiently re-align the facets after re-attaching them to the heliostat. AIMFAST is used to characterize dish facets and align dish systems. Reflectance (q) is a measurement set-up to measure the surface solar-weighted reflectance versus angle of incidence. Fabrication Facilities At the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF), the CSP team has experienced mechanical technologists capable of designing and building mechanical components for CSP technologies. The NSTTF has a large machine shop equipped to maximum capacity for mechanical fabrication. It contains saws capable of cutting materials 20 ft. in length at low tolerances, and a magnetic drill press. The mechanical technologists have the capabilities of welding using MIG, TIG, or Orbital methods, and have experience welding Haynes 230 and Inconel alloys. NSTTF also has the capacity to design and develop large test structures up to 20 ft. x 20 ft. x 20 ft. in dimension. The following list includes mechanical fabrication that NSTTF Mechanical technologists can facilitate. Machinery: Lathe capable of turning down pipes (3” capacity) Shear (8’ x 4’ x 0.25” capacity) Mills for fine tuning cuts Solar engine repair High pressure system fabrication and installation 60 ft. manlifts for installation/repair 12,000 lb. rough terrain telehandler forklift 8,000 lb. slab forklift 10,000 lb. rough terrain telehandler forklift Large platform scissor lift (30’ reach) Jib Cranes x 2 (10,000 lb. each) in the tower for fabrication at base of tower Bridge crane in high bay fabrication area (10,000 lb.) Molten Salt Research Capabilities SNL and NREL are developing a 2.2-MWt liquid pathway (ternary chloride molten salt or sodium alkali metal) system consisting of a solar receiver, thermal energy storage tanks, and associated pumps, heat exchangers, piping, valves, sensors, and heat tracing. Additionally, at the NSTTF, the CSP team has worked and researched the capabilities of the Molten-Salt power development for decades. On-site, the CSP team has designed a Molten Salt Test Loop (MSTL) to allow industrial customers and researchers to test molten salts over a range of temperatures within energy-generation individual components such as flex hoses, ball joints, and valves, up to full solar collecting and heated systems. The system has 3 parallel test loops, made from 345H stainless steel, that provide locations where a customer’s experiment can be attached for testing in flowing salt in plant-like conditions. The system can accept and remove up to 1.4 MWth input from the system by either pump work or by heat input from the experiment. Anticipated experiments include flowing salt corrosion tests and accelerated life testing of components for both CSP and other molten salt applications, which could include nuclear energy, among other industrial thermal storage systems. Flanges that have been employed are Grayloc brand 6” hubs with silver coated seal rings. More comprehensive inspections of the MSTL show that it requires maintenance to become operational again, including re-melting the existing solar salt inventory. Coatings Research To meet the SunShot goal of levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of 6¢/kWh by 2020, next generation power towers will operate at temperatures > 600°C in order to take advantage of increased efficiencies of high-temperature operation. Current receiver coatings, such as Pyromark 2500, while highly absorbent, suffer from high emittance and have been reported to degrade during operation at T > 600°C. Here at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility, the CSP team is working to increase the thermal efficiency of SSA coating by 4% at 650°C, and 7% at 800°C, which can potentially reduce the LCOE by an estimated 0.25 ¢/kWh. Using the National Solar Thermal Test Facility facilities, the CSP team has the research capabilities to develop coating to effectively reach LCOE of 6¢/kWh. Other capabilities include: Optimizing spinel and thermal spray formulations Developing surface modification techniques to enhance solar selectivity Performance optimization of coatings supported by isothermal testing at temperature Refining coatings based on optical performance and durability. Utilizing the National Solar Thermal Test Facility SNL is seeking feedback on how potential projects could utilize the NSTTF in developing CSP centered projects. Responses from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders are welcomed. The main focus is how the research and testing capabilities at the NSTTF can be utilized be project partners or what changes could be made to accommodate customers better. The sample questions are given as follows. Responders are welcome to answer all or subsets of the questions. Categories and Questions Category 1: Capabilities Which of the capabilities are you looking to utilize and what is the utilization goal? Could the NSTTF modify, upgrade, or add an aspect or entire capability which would increase your likelihood of using the facility? If yes, what would you like to see the NSTTF invest in? What are the measurements/sensors that you would require? What would increase the suitability of the NSTTF for CSP related testing and work? Are you looking to generate electricity and tie into the existing power grid? What modes of operation are you looking to test your component(s) at? Minutes? Hourly? Daily? Are there special operational modes that you would require of the current capabilities that doesn’t currently exist? Any other comments on capabilities/expertise? Category 2: Research and Design What are the current gaps in research that the NSTTF facility could address to make your components more successful? Are there current research problems that have not advanced due to industry issues that could be a focus of research with the facility capabilities? Are there other groups at Sandia National Laboratories that, if made available through the facility, could assist your research? What skill specialty of staff would you require if a project were to be worked on at the site? Optics? Mechanical? Electrical? Fabrication? Any other comments of capabilities/expertise? Request for Information Response Guidelines To respond, please email your response to
[email protected] no later than 12:00pm (ET) on February 17, 2020. Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically and provided as attachments to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to the email, and no more than ten (10) pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic responses will be accepted. Please identify answers by responding to a specific question or topic if applicable. Respondents may answer as many or as few questions as desired at their discretion. SNL will not respond to individual submissions or publicly publish a compendium of responses. A response to this RFI will not be viewed as a binding commitment to develop or pursue the project or ideas discussed. Respondents are requested to provide the following information at the start of their response to this RFI: Company / institution name; Company / institution contact; Contact's address, phone number, and e-mail address. [1] Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.