UNIT-02
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
Solar Power Technology
• The amount of sunlight that strikes
the earth's surface in an hour and a
half is enough to handle the entire
world's energy consumption for a full
year. Solar technologies convert
sunlight into electrical energy either
through photovoltaic (PV) panels or
through mirrors that concentrate
solar radiation. This energy can be
used to generate electricity or be
stored in batteries or thermal storage.
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants
• In solar thermal energy, all concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies use solar thermal energy
from sunlight to make power. A solar field of mirrors concentrates the sun’s energy onto a
receiver that traps the heat and stores it in thermal energy storage till needed to create steam to
drive a turbine to produce electrical power.
• According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), CSP generation increased by an estimated
34% in 2019. Although this exponential growth is impressive, there’s still some way to go until CSP
reaches its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which requires an average growth of 24%
through 2030.
• CSP systems can also be combined with other power sources to create hybrid power plants. For
example, CSP can be integrated with thermal-fired power plants that use fuels like coal, natural
gas and biofuel.
• There are four types of CSP technologies
Parabolic Trough Systems
• In a parabolic trough CSP system, the sun’s
energy is concentrated by parabolically
curved, trough-shaped reflectors onto a
receiver pipe – the heat absorber tube –
running along about a meter above the
curved surface of the mirrors. The
temperature of the heat transfer fluid flowing
through the pipe, usually thermal oil, is
increased from 293ºC to 393ºC, and the heat
energy is then used in the thermal power
block to generate electricity in a conventional
steam generator.
Parabolic Dish Systems
• A Parabolic dish system consists of a parabolic-
shaped point focus concentrator in the form of a
dish that reflects solar radiation onto a receiver
mounted at the focal point. These concentrators
are mounted on a structure with a two-axis
tracking system to follow the sun. The collected
heat is typically utilized directly by a heat engine
mounted on the receiver moving with the dish
structure. Dish can attain extremely high
temperatures, and holds promise for use in solar
reactors for making solar fuels which require very
high temperatures
Tower Systems
• Power tower or central receiver systems
utilize sun-tracking mirrors called
heliostats to focus sunlight onto a
receiver at the top of a tower. A heat
transfer fluid heated in the receiver up
to around 600ºC is used to generate
steam, which, in turn, is used in a
conventional turbine-generator to
produce electricity.
Linear Fresnel Systems
• Similar to the long arrays of a parabolic
trough CSP system, a Linear concentrating
collector field consists of a large number
of collectors in parallel rows. These are
typically aligned in a north-south
orientation to maximize annual and
summer energy collection. The mirrors
are laid flat on the ground and reflect the
sunlight to the pipe above. Like trough
and tower, Fresnel can also incorporate
storage in a power block, or generate
steam for direct use.
