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Global warming has set the tone towards a more climate oriented society, aiming at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and shifting to cleaner, reliable energy. To that purpose, several technologies have been developed. Concentrated Solar thermal Power (CSP) and particularly parabolic trough, is considered the most proven and lowest cost large-scale solar power technology available today with a promising future prospects.
CSP systems use concentrators and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight onto a small area. The concentrated light is then utilized as heat or as a heat source for a conventional power plant (Solar Thermal Electricity).
About 5 GW of new CSP plants are expected to be installed by 2015. By 2020, the estimated total installed capacity is expected to be 30 GW and by 2025, 60 GW (Estela, 2010). To satisfy this growing demand, new suppliers will definitely need to penetrate into the market. | |
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| Parabolic Trough |
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Parabolic trough is a line focus (2D concentrating) system in which the incoming solar radiation is concentrated onto a focal line by one-axis tracking mirrors. They are able to concentrate the solar radiation flux 30-80 times, heating a thermal fluid up to 400°C, with power conversion unit (power block) sizes of 50 MW and up, and therefore, they are well suited for centralized power generation with a Rankine steam turbine/generator cycle in dispatchable markets.
Currently, parabolic trough is the only long term field-proven technology with over 700 MW of total installed capacity. The estimated total installed capacity by 2015 is about 3,500-4,000 MW (70-80% of the CSP market). | | |
| Solar Tower |
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Solar towers are point focus systems (3D) that capture the sunrays with tracking mirrors (heliostats) which concentrate the radiation onto heat exchanger called central receiver, where energy is transferred to a thermal fluid. The receiver sits on top of the tower which resides in the center of the heliostat field. After energy collection in the receiver, the thermal energy conversion to electricity is quite similar to fossil-fueled thermal power plants and the above-described parabolic trough system power block.
Less than 35 MW of Solar towers are currently operating worldwide. By 2015, the estimated total installed capacity is expected to be 500 MW and by 2020, 1,500 MW. | | |
| Parabolic Dish |
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A dish system is a point focus system that uses a large, reflective, parabolic dish that tracks the sun and concentrates solar radiation onto a receiver which transforms it into useful heat. The heat is driving a heat engine, typically Stirling or Brayton (gas turbine). An electrical generator, directly connected to the crankshaft of the engine, converts the mechanical energy into AC electricity.
Parabolic Dishes can be integrated either in stand-alone, small off-grid stations or in large dish farms. A 1.5 MW pilot is currently operating in Arizona. | | |
| Linear Frensel Reflector (LFR) |
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A linear Fresnel power plant uses a series of long, narrow, shallow-curvature (or even flat) mirrors to focus light onto linear receivers positioned above the mirrors (a 2D concentrating system). Fresnel systems are conceptually simple, using inexpensive, compact optics, that can produce saturated steam at 150-360°C.
The Fresnel system efficiency is lower than other CSP technologies. To date there are two demonstration Fresnel plants with total capacity of 6.5 MW. | | |
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 "Parabolic troughs")
 "Solar Tower")
 "Parabolic Dish")
 "Compact Linear Frensel Reflector ( CLFR )")
