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    • Wind and Structural Loads on Heliostats

    Metadata Updated: January 13, 2026

    Wind loading is a main contributor to structural design costs of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) collectors, such as heliostats. These structures must resist the mechanical forces generated by turbulent wind. At the same time, the reflector surfaces must exhibit the necessary rigidity to maintain their optimal optical performance in windy conditions.

    In 2024-2025, NLR conducted comprehensive field measurements of the atmospheric turbulent wind conditions and the resulting structural wind loads on heliostats at the Crescent Dunes power plant. The measurement set-up included meteorological masts and structural load sensors on three heliostats. Additionally, we commissioned a lidar scanning the solar field along the north-west quadrant.

    This data set catalogs the high-resolution data set characterizing the complex flow field and resulting structural loads on heliostats. By providing this first-of-its-kind data set to the CSP community, we aim to enhance the community's understanding of wind-loading experienced by heliostats. This data set will also help design next-generation photovoltaic trackers.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: Creative Commons Attribution

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date December 31, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date January 13, 2026

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from OpenEI data.json

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date December 31, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date January 13, 2026
    Publisher National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR)
    Maintainer
    Identifier https://data.openei.org/submissions/8601
    Data First Published 2025-12-24T07:00:00Z
    Data Last Modified 2026-01-07T17:15:02Z
    Public Access Level public
    Bureau Code 019:20
    Metadata Context https://openei.org/data.json
    Metadata Catalog ID https://openei.org/data.json
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Data Quality True
    Harvest Object Id 1e8994d5-e180-439d-87d7-c64d96c96bdf
    Harvest Source Id 7cbf9085-0290-4e9f-bec1-91653baeddfd
    Harvest Source Title OpenEI data.json
    Homepage URL https://data.openei.org/submissions/8601
    License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
    Old Spatial {"type":"Polygon","coordinates":-180,-83,180,-83,180,83,-180,83,-180,-83}
    Program Code 019:008
    Projectnumber EE0052732
    Projecttitle Wind Loading on CSP Collectors
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash 6b62f52f51ffa2bc9852c0302ae59e9f5cfabd915da1b1f4ba6fe2939ca261c5
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial {"type":"Polygon","coordinates":-180,-83,180,-83,180,83,-180,83,-180,-83}

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