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Advances in Solar Thermal Energy Harvesting, Storage and Conversion—2nd Edition
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Advances in Solar Thermal Energy Harvesting, Storage and Conversion—2nd Edition

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "D: Energy Storage and Application".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 July 2026 | Viewed by 4406

Editors

Prof. Dr. Yu Qiu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410017, China
Interests: concentrating solar power; thermal energy storage; manipulation of thermal radiation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Qiliang Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Interests: solar energy conversion; concentrating solar power; heat transfer; photovoltaic/thermal
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Chao Xu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Energy Power and Mechanical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
Interests: solar thermal utilization; thermal energy storage; water–electrolytic hydrogen production; thermochemical hydrogen production
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Solar energy is the most abundant renewable energy resource. Solar thermal technologies, including concentrating solar power, solar-driven desalination, solar heating or cooling, solar industrial process heat, etc., present significant advantages in producing heat, electricity, fresh water, etc. In these technologies, the solar energy should be, firstly, efficiently harvested by converting solar energy to thermal energy. Then, the thermal energy can be stored, converted to electricity, employed to produce fresh water, or utilized under various situations. During the solar energy harvesting, storage, and conversion processes in these solar thermal technologies, enormous research opportunities are being pursued worldwide.

The Special Issue of “Advances in Solar Thermal Energy Harvesting, Storage and Conversion—2nd Edition” aims to capture the latest research in the fields of concentrating solar power, new power cycles or conversion approaches, thermal energy storage, solar-driven interfacial evaporation, solar heating or cooling, solar industrial process heat, etc. Articles may describe innovative technical developments and experimental, numerical, or analytical studies or assess the future prospects of and make suggestions on potential approaches to emerging technology solutions.

Prof. Dr. Yu Qiu
Dr. Qiliang Wang
Prof. Dr. Chao Xu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • solar thermal technology
  • concentrating solar power
  • parabolic trough collector
  • solar power tower
  • parabolic dish collector
  • linear fresnel reflector
  • flat-plate collector
  • solar concentrator
  • optical analysis of solar collectors
  • advancements in solar receiver
  • solar selective absorbing coating
  • thermal energy storage
  • molten salt
  • phase change material
  • S-CO2 power cycle
  • new power cycles
  • solar-driven desalination
  • solar heating
  • solar water heater
  • solar cooling
  • solar-driven absorption/adsorption chillers
  • radiative cooling
  • solar industrial process heat
  • heat transfer fluid
  • heat exchanger
  • solar reactor
  • solar thermochemical energy storage

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

40 pages, 3419 KB  
Article
Small-Scale Parabolic Trough–Concrete Thermal Energy Storage for Dispatchable Heat for Pharmaceutical Processes: A Makkah Case Study
by Abdulmajeed S. Al-Ghamdi and Ali Alaidaros
Energies 2026, 19(5), 1211; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19051211 - 27 Feb 2026
Viewed by 821
Abstract
Pharmaceutical industries require a continuous heat supply to sustain around-the-clock operations such as sterilization. While fossil-fuel systems ensure reliability, they increase emissions and fuel dependence. Integrating a small-scale parabolic trough collector (PTC) with concrete thermal energy storage (C-TES) enables continuous and stable solar [...] Read more.
Pharmaceutical industries require a continuous heat supply to sustain around-the-clock operations such as sterilization. While fossil-fuel systems ensure reliability, they increase emissions and fuel dependence. Integrating a small-scale parabolic trough collector (PTC) with concrete thermal energy storage (C-TES) enables continuous and stable solar heat delivery, offering a flexible solution for pharmaceutical manufacturing. This study investigates the integration of PTC and C-TES to provide continuous heat supply using 12 representative days of the year based on weather data for Makkah City obtained from the Renewable Resource Atlas (RRA) developed by the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE). Model validation was performed using experimental PTC–C-TES charging data and a simplified C-TES module model. The results show that the C-TES system successfully maintained operating temperatures between 120 °C and 310 °C. Demand coverage was identified as a key design parameter. Full demand coverage requires approximately 73 PTC units and 1600 C-TES modules, representing increases of about 4.5 and 5 times compared with the 25% coverage case. Techno-economic analysis indicates that the levelized cost of heat (LCOH) reaches an optimum of approximately 89.7 USD/MWh at 25% coverage, while overall efficiency peaks at about 41%. The results indicate that a moderate solar contribution of around 25% provides the optimal balance between cost and operational flexibility. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Solar Thermal Energy Harvesting, Storage and Conversion—2nd Edition)
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25 pages, 6302 KB  
Article
Solar Photovoltaic System Fault Classification via Hierarchical Deep Learning with Imbalanced Multi-Class Thermal Dataset
by Hrach Ayunts, Sos S. Agaian and Artyom M. Grigoryan
Energies 2026, 19(2), 462; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19020462 - 17 Jan 2026
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1254
Abstract
The growing global reliance on solar photovoltaic (PV) systems requires robust, automated inspection techniques to ensure reliability and efficiency. Thermal infrared (IR) imaging is widely used for detecting PV faults; however, accurate classification remains challenging due to severe class imbalance, low thermal contrast, [...] Read more.
The growing global reliance on solar photovoltaic (PV) systems requires robust, automated inspection techniques to ensure reliability and efficiency. Thermal infrared (IR) imaging is widely used for detecting PV faults; however, accurate classification remains challenging due to severe class imbalance, low thermal contrast, and high inter-class visual similarity among fault types. This study proposes a hierarchical deep learning framework for thermal PV fault classification, integrating a multi-class dataset-balancing strategy to enhance representational efficiency. The proposed framework consists of two major components: (i) a hierarchical two-stage classification scheme that mitigates data imbalance and leverages limited labeled data for improved fault discrimination; and (ii) a contrast-preserving MixUp augmentation technique designed explicitly for low-contrast thermal imagery, improving minority fault class recognition and overall robustness. Comprehensive experiments were conducted on benchmark 8-class thermal PV datasets using nine deep network architectures. Dataset refactoring decisions are validated through quantitative inter-class distance analysis using multiple complementary metrics. Results demonstrate that the proposed hierarchical SlantNet model achieves the best trade-off between accuracy and computational efficiency, achieving an F1-Efficiency Index of 337.6 and processing 42,072 images per second on a GPU, over twice the efficiency of conventional approaches. Comparatively, the Swin-T Transformer attained the highest classification accuracy of 89.48% and F1 score of 80.50%, while SlantNet achieved 86.15% accuracy and 73.03% F1 score with substantially higher inference speed, highlighting its real-time potential. Ablation studies on augmentation and regularization strategies confirm that the proposed techniques significantly improve minority class detection without compromising overall performance, with detailed per-class precision, recall, and F1 analysis. The proposed framework delivers a high-accuracy, low-latency, and edge-deployable solution for automated PV inspection, facilitating seamless integration into operational PV plants for real-time fault diagnosis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Solar Thermal Energy Harvesting, Storage and Conversion—2nd Edition)
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16 pages, 1727 KB  
Article
Optimal Sizing of PV-Storage Systems Based on Multi-Scenario Simulation and Marginal Analysis
by Ying Yang, Yingai Jin and Firoz Alam
Energies 2025, 18(24), 6392; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18246392 - 6 Dec 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 777
Abstract
The issue of solar curtailment and generation limitations, driven by insufficient grid absorption capacity, is becoming increasingly severe, significantly reducing the capacity factor and economic returns of photovoltaic (PV) power plants. The present study proposes a scenario-based simulation framework, developed using PVsyst software [...] Read more.
The issue of solar curtailment and generation limitations, driven by insufficient grid absorption capacity, is becoming increasingly severe, significantly reducing the capacity factor and economic returns of photovoltaic (PV) power plants. The present study proposes a scenario-based simulation framework, developed using PVsyst software (version 7.4), with a view to investigating the impact of collaborative optimisation using different energy storage capacities on PV integration. The construction of an optimisation model is undertaken with the dual objectives of minimising curtailment losses and maximising the capacity factor. Through the implementation of scenario simulations, a coordinated control strategy is devised for divergent storage capacities, incorporating a charging approach during periods of photovoltaic over-generation and a discharging approach during instances of under-generation. Such an approach is coupled with marginal benefit analysis to simulate system performance under a range of technical conditions. The findings of the present study demonstrate that the implementation of storage coordination optimisation has the potential to result in a substantial reduction in curtailment losses and enhancement of the capacity factor. As energy storage capacity increases from 0 MWh to 10 MWh, curtailment losses decrease by approximately 52%, and capacity factors improve by about 11%. However, as storage capacity increases, the marginal benefits decrease. When storage capacity reaches 9 MWh, and the marginal rate of return exhibits a distinct critical point with increasing storage capacity per unit. The most critical parameter influencing the MRR (Marginal Rate of Return) is the Power Curtailment, which is the primary source of losses, and increasing the Power curtailment can immediately liberate substantial amounts of high-value, otherwise-curtailed solar energy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Solar Thermal Energy Harvesting, Storage and Conversion—2nd Edition)
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12 pages, 6744 KB  
Article
Gas Void Morphology and Distribution in Solidified Pure Paraffin Within a Cubic Thermal Energy Storage Unit
by Donglei Wang, Qianqian Zhao and Rongzong Huang
Energies 2025, 18(14), 3686; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18143686 - 12 Jul 2025
Viewed by 769
Abstract
Gas voids inevitably form during the solidification of phase change materials (PCMs) due to volumetric contraction and thus deteriorate the thermal conductivity of solidified PCMs. In this work, the gas void morphology and distribution in solidified pure paraffin within a cubic thermal energy [...] Read more.
Gas voids inevitably form during the solidification of phase change materials (PCMs) due to volumetric contraction and thus deteriorate the thermal conductivity of solidified PCMs. In this work, the gas void morphology and distribution in solidified pure paraffin within a cubic thermal energy storage unit are experimentally studied. The three-dimensional structure of the solidified pure paraffin is reconstructed via computed tomography (CT) scanning with a resolution of up to 25 µm. Four distinct morphological types of gas voids are found, including irregular elliptical gas voids, elongated “needle-like” gas voids, micro gas voids, and large circular gas voids. The formation mechanisms of each type are analyzed. The morphology and distribution of gas voids indicate that the solidified pure paraffin structure is anisotropic. The effective thermal conductivity (ETC) of this solid–gas structure is numerically evaluated using lattice Boltzmann simulations, and a two-term power equation is fitted. The results show that the ETC in the vertical direction is significantly lower than in the horizontal direction and the ETC could be reduced by as much as 31.5% due to the presence of gas voids. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Solar Thermal Energy Harvesting, Storage and Conversion—2nd Edition)
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