Abstract

The rapid increase in the installed capacity of photovoltaics and the increasing fraction of its contribution to the electricity supply demonstrates the potential of renewable energy to contribute to electricity generation. Yet as the amount of renewable energy increases, there are increasing concerns about how to integrate energy sources that have a variation in output. To accommodate a variation in the electrical output, renewable energy systems which have storage are an important component in increasing the penetration of renewables. Solar thermal systems include storage, and hence are important to include in the electricity system.

© 2014 Optical Society of America