Solar thermal CSP technology

Abstract

Solar thermal concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, because of their capacityfor large-scale generation of electricity and the possible integration of thermal storage devices and hybridization with backup fossil fuels, are meant to supply a significant part of the demand in countries of the solar belt. Nowadays, the market penetration of solar thermal electricity is steeply increasing, with commercial projects in Spain, USA, and other countries, being the most promising technology to follow the pathway of wind and photovoltaics to reach the goals for renewable energy implementation in 2020 and 2050. In the first commercial projects involving parabolic-trough technology, some improvements are being introduced like the use of large molten-salt heat storage systems able to provide high degrees of dispatchability to the operation of the plant, like the plants Andasol in Guadix, Spain, with 7.5 h of nominal storage, or the use of direct steam generation loops to replace thermal oil at the solar field. In the near future, the research and innovation being conducted within the field of linear Fresnel collectors may lead to high temperature systems able to operate up to 500 • C and produce cost-effective superheated steam. Central receiver systems are opening the field to new thermal fluids like molten salts (Gemasolar tower plant in Seville, Spain) with more than 14 h of nominal storage and air, and new solar receivers like volumetric absorbers, allowing operation at temperatures above 1000 • C. All these factors can lead to electricity generation cost reduction of CSP plants by 30-40% for the period 2010-2020, according to public roadmaps and cost analysis made by the International Energy Agency in PTCs are linear-focus concentrating solar devices suitable for working in the 150-400 • C temperature range. 20 The current research with new thermal fluids intends to increase the operating temperature up Advanced Review 4 5 CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOKFrom the seventies to the nineties, the development of STE technologies remained restricted to a few FIGURE 9 Aerial view of Gemasolar plant, property of Torresol Energy C Torresol Energy, located in South Spain. At present, it is the largest commercial solar central receiver system with a circular-shape heliostat field. Reproduced by permission of Torresol Energy.

Assessing the techno-economics of modular hybrid solar thermal systems

“…To calculate the electrical trace heating used in each system, the following equation was used: , was determined previously from Lim et al [8]. The height of the towers were estimated from known tower heights for scales of 3MW th and 30MW th while the height of the other towers were estimated with a logarithm equation of the two known tower heights [16]. The length of pipes from each module to the EPGS, , , was taken to be the average value of those reported for operating power plant layouts [17,18].…”

Techno-economic assessment of a hybrid solar receiver and combustor

“…where , was obtained following Rodriquez 10 , while the number and length of the pipes carrying the heat transfer fluid was determined previously from Lim et al 8 The height of the tower was assumed to be 120m based on a similar ratio of height to total thermal output to that of the Gemasolar tower, which is 145m tall with a 120MW thermal output 11 . An additional 10% is added to the overall power to account for other miscellaneous components as well as the storage system.…”

Round-the-clock power supply and a sustainable economy via synergistic integration of solar thermal power and hydrogen processes

“…S3). Concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies are extensively studied in the literature (32)(33)(34). The proposed SWP cycle is a central tower and direct steam cycle-type CSP plant.…”