Concentrated Solar Power

(CSP)
By: Hamza Badran and Ghaith Al-Faraj
What is The “CSP” Technology?
CSP stands for: Concentrated Solar Power and it is a technology that
uses sunlight to generate electricity. Generally, CSP uses mirrors to
concentrate or focus the sunlight energy and convert it to heat that will
then be used to create steam to drive a turbine that will generate
electrical power.
How does it operate?
• It uses mirrors (collectors) to reflect the sunlight and focus it
on a receiver.
• The receiver converts the sunlight energy to heat energy.
• The heat is exchanged in a second loop to produce hot
steam.
• The hot steam expands in the turbine, causing it to produce
shaft work which operates the generator to produce
electricity.
What are the advantages of “CSP” technology?
1. It is a renewable method to produce power.
2. It is a green method to produce electricity (environmentally
friendly)
3. It is reliable for different times and difficult situations
because of the efficient heat storage system that it uses.
(will be discussed later)
4. Although it has high initial installation cost, its overall
operating cost is low compared with fossil fuel power plants.
Types of CSP
• There are mainly four types of CSP, depending on the collector
type:

1- Parabolic troughs.
2- Dish/engine systems.
3- Central receiver systems.
4- Linear Fresnel.
A. Parabolic troughs
• These solar collectors use mirrored
parabolic troughs to focus the sun's
energy to a fluid-carrying absorber
(receiver) tube located at the focal
point of reflector.
• The energy from the sun sent to the
tube heat oil flowing through the tube,
and the heat energy is then used to
generate electricity in a conventional
steam generator.
• When many troughs are placed
in parallel rows, they are called a
"collector field."
• The troughs in the field are all
aligned along a north- south axis
so they can track the sun from
east to west during the day,
ensuring that the sun is
continuously focused on the
receiver pipes.

Source: http://solarcellcentral.com/csp_page.html
B. Dish/engine systems
• A dish/engine system is usually a standalone unit composed
primarily of a collector, a receiver, and an engine.
• In this type the receiver is mounted above the dish shaped
collector at the dish center.
• It works by collecting and concentrating the sun's energy onto a
receiver that absorbs the energy and transfers it to the engine.
The engine then converts that energy to heat.
• The heat is then converted to mechanical power by
compressing the working fluid when it is cold, heating the
compressed working fluid, and then expanding it through a
turbine to produce mechanical power.
• An electric generator converts the mechanical power into
electrical power.
C. Central receiver systems.
• Central receiver system(or power towers) is composed of five main
components: heliostats, receiver, heat transport and exchange,
thermal storage, and controls.
• Central receivers use thousands of individual sun-tracking mirrors
called to reflect solar energy onto a receiver located on top of tall
tower.
• The receiver collects the sun's heat in a heat-transfer fluid (molten
salt) that flows through the receiver. The salt's heat energy is then
used to make steam to generate electricity in a conventional steam
generator, located at the foot of the tower.
D. Linear Fresnel
• LFRs approximate the parabolic shape
of trough systems but use long rows
of flat or slightly curved mirrors to
reflect the sun’s rays onto a
downward-facing linear, fixed
receiver. (see the adjacent figure).
• The main disadvantage of LFRs is that
they have low efficiency. This is
because they are fixed (NO Tracking).
• They are less expensive than troughs
but less effective when the sun is low.
• Fixed receivers allow higher pressures and thus facilitate the
direct heating of water, a process known as direct steam
generation technology. This can eliminate the need for a heat-
transfer fluid and exchanger.
• The last point is considered as an advantage of the LFRs because
it makes it less costly to install since there is no heat exchanger.
• Less land is needed in the Linear Fresnel technology in compare
with other types. This is because the reflectors could be installed
next to each other, and this is another advantage.
Storage system
• In order to enhance the reliability of the CSP, an efficient
storage system for heat energy is required.
• These storage systems can be used to supply heat when the
CSP fails to supply heat in the cases of cloudy weather or at
night time.
• The most used material in heat storage systems is molten
salt.
Molten salt
• The salt is simply an environmentally friendly mixture of sodium nitrate
and potassium nitrate. They can also be made of Fluoride (LiF) or Sodium
tetrafluoroborate (NaBF4).
• The molten salt storage system retains heat efficiently, so it can be stored
for hours or even days before being used to generate electricity.
• Heat loss could be only 1⁰F per day.
• It is stored at 1050⁰F (566⁰C) until electricity is needed – day or night,
whether or not the sun is shining.
• As electricity is needed, molten salt is dispatched from the hot tank
through a heat exchanger to create super-heated steam which then powers
a conventional steam turbine.
• It never needs replacing or topping up for the entire 30+ year life of the
plant.
• The tanks stores the salt at atmospheric pressure.
http://www.solarreserve.com/en/technology/molten-salt-energy-storage
Comparison between three types of CSP:

Note that the Efficiency of the Linear Fresnel is only (8 – 10)%

http://helioscsp.com/morocco-largest-concentrated-solar-power-complex-noor-123/
References:
• Site: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2016/ph240/tew2/
 Submitted as coursework for PH240, Stanford University, Fall 2016.
• http://helioscsp.com/morocco-largest-concentrated-solar-power-
complex-noor-123/
• http://solarcellcentral.com/csp_page.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrated_solar_power
• http://solareis.anl.gov/guide/solar/csp/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_linear_Fresnel_reflector
• Bloomberg new energy finance on: https://www.bloomberg.com