DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18800050
title: Monitoring data from a large-scale single-axis tracked flat-plate collector solar plant for industrial process heat in Condat, France

description: Highlights



Operational measurement data from a large-scale solar process heat plant using single-axis tracked flat plate collectors, designed and operated by Newheat in Condat, France.

The dataset covers the full year 2020 at 1-minute sampling resolution, including all seasons.

The solar field preheats steam boiler make-up water for the paper production process, displacing natural gas. A 500 m³ hot water storage tank is integrated into the system. For more information about the plant, see the Newheat project page.

The collector array consists of 264 Savo Solar SF500-15 flat plate collectors with a total gross collector area of 4,212 m², installed on north-south oriented single-axis trackers.

The dataset includes a SunPeek Power Check PDF report confirming that the plant fulfils the ISO 24194 Power Check based on the 2020 data, with a measured-to-estimated power output ratio of 107.1%.  


Plant and collector array description

The data is from a single-axis tracked flat plate collector array located in Condat-sur-Vézère, France. The plant was designed and is operated by Newheat. As described on the Newheat project page, the solar field was commissioned in January 2019 and preheats steam boiler make-up water for a production process, displacing natural gas.

The collector array has a total gross area of 4,212 m² and consists of 264 Savo Solar SF500-15 flat plate collectors with a gross area of 15.96 m² per unit, certified with a Solar Keymark datasheet (license 011-7S2688 F, issued 2016-10-07). Key collector performance parameters and incidence angle modifiers are provided in the JSON metadata file. The collectors are mounted on single-axis trackers oriented south (axis azimuth 180°) with a horizontal rotation axis. The array comprises 22 rows with a row spacing of 5.8 m. The heat transfer fluid is a water-glycol mixture (Aqua-Concept "Coracon SOL 5", 30% concentration).

Data files



data_2020.csv  Time-series measurement data at 1-minute resolution, covering the full year 2020 (January to December). The CSV file contains all available sensor channels from the plant monitoring system. The JSON metadata file documents the subset of channels required for solar thermal performance analysis; additional channels are present in the CSV but not described in the metadata.

Condat__parameters.json  Domain-specific metadata file in both human- and machine-readable format. Contains information about data owner, plant designer and operator, as well as plant location, collector array configuration, thermal and optical collector performance parameters, and descriptions of the data channels relevant for solar thermal analysis, with physical units. Unit strings are parsable by the Python pint package.

SunPeek Power Check report.pdf  Performance verification report according to ISO 24194: The plant fulfils the ISO 24194 Power Check based on the 2020 measurement data, with a ratio of measured to estimated power output of 107.1% over 439 operating hours (safety factor 0.9). The report was generated using SunPeek, an open-source software for performance analysis of large-scale solar thermal plants.


Acknowledgment

This dataset is published as part of DIGISOLAR Deliverable D1.4 ("Long-term monitoring data for performance verification and FDD data preparation"). DIGISOLAR has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement number 101235027 — DIGISOLAR — HORIZON-CL5-2024-D3-02.

Data owner

Newheat SAS