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Solar thermal technology to supply process heat in different industrial sectors has become very promising in recent years. Industries can reduce their consumption of fossil fuels by replacing them with solar process heat with non-conventional system integration and using clean energy. In this paper, a systematic review of 10 countries is presented which demonstrated extensive use of solar industrial process heating systems in their manufacturing sectors. This country-wise analysis is then used to compare with current Australian scenario and identify future prospects of integrating solar process heating in Australian industrial sectors. The choice of countries is based on a database where promising industrial sectors and solar process heating applications are currently using incident solar energy. These are analyzed for their potential of integration to developing solar heat in industrial processes (SHIP) and a number of potential industrial sectors that have the highest potential like Motor vehicles, Textiles, Printing, Wood, Paper, Fabricated metal, Rubber and plastics, chemicals, Food, beverages, electrical equipment, machinery, and equipment are being identified. An overview of available studies is discussed in this paper focused on specific countries and the industrial heat demand of existing operational plants. Future trends due to solar energy potential are also outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy sources such as wind farms and solar power plants are replacing conventional coal-based synchronous generators (SGs) to achieve net-zero carbon emissions worldwide. SGs play an important role in enhancing system strength in a power system to make it more stable during voltage/frequency disruptions. However, traditional coal-fired SGs are being decommissioned in many parts of the world, owing to stringent environmental regulations and low levelized cost of energy of renewables. Consequently, maintaining system strength in a renewable energy-dominated power system has become a major challenge, and without adequate mitigation techniques, low system strength can potentially cause widespread power outages. This paper provides an overview of system strength and its measurement techniques in a power system with a large number of renewable energy sources (RESs), for example solar and wind farms. The review includes the system strength measurement techniques, mitigation approaches, and future challenges. • A comprehensive review on system strength for Australia. • Integration of power systems with large number of renewable energy sources. • Measurement and mitigation techniques for system strength shortfalls. • Analysis of future challenges and research directions on system strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants can make a significant contribution to renewable energy supply in many regions of the world. Several bottom-up engineering performance models for CSP plants have been developed. However, they require the capacity of the plant to be known. In whole-of-grid optimization models, the capacity of the plants is an optimization variable and therefore not known in advance. In this case, researchers have taken a simplified modelling approach that overestimated CSP performance, especially for low-DNI conditions. In this paper, we offer a novel density-based engineering modelling approach in which CSP performance is determined independently of the capacity of the power plant, and which can be used in whole-of-grid optimization models. We investigate a case study of the site of the new Aurora CSP project in Port Augusta, South Australia, to be one of the world's largest solar thermal power plants by 2020. Using a Geographical Information System (GIS)-grid representation of Australia, we compare CSP performance resulting from a simplified model with our new approach. • A novel density-based engineering modelling approach for Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants. • CSP performance is determined independently of the capacity of the power plant. • The approach can be used in whole-of-grid optimisation models. • We investigate the site of the new Aurora CSP project in Port Augusta, South Australia to be constructed by 2020. • The new approach is compared to the simplified description of CSP performance, using a GIS-grid representation of Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]