generator in Italy Vittorio Brignoli*, Davide Bombelli* Conferenza SolarPACES 2009 Berlino, 15-18 Settembre 2009 * ERSE SpA Information gained during a number of years of experimental operation of an EuroDish solar generator have been utilised to implement a software capable to model its detailed behaviour and estimate the production of electricity under real conditions. The software, named ERSE-DISH, is an easy tool developed in Visual Basic, capable to calculate and show the production of electricity starting from data of DNI – Direct Normal Insolation – and other main meteo parameters. A number of functions, tuneable by the operator, permit to take into account the intimate characteristics of the dish, its main performance curve, its parasitics and behaviour during the non operation due to random troubles generated from the grid. A special function pre-processes the meteo data to transform typical hourly means meteo data files into 5 minutes means data files to make feasible the simulation of the short transients that affect the performance of the machine. Extended checks with the experimental data gained in Milan in a wide range of weather conditions permitted to refine and qualify the model. Application of the tool to some reference locations in South Italy completed the test of the ERSE-DISH and gave a first estimation of the production of electricity obtainable by means the available dish – Stirling technology in Italy. Comparisons between helium and hydrogen versions of the Stirling motor have also been performed. Keywords: dish Stirling Italy model Eurodish