The solar thermal power plant is one of the promising renewable energy options to substitute the increasing demand of conventional energy The cost per kW of solar power is higher and the overall efficiency of the system is lower In the present communication, a comprehensive literature review on the scenario of solar thermal power plants and its up-to-date technologies all over the world is presented Results of the technical and economical feasibility studies by researchers are reported in brief for further reference It is observed that the solar thermal power plants have come out of the experimental stage to commercial applications Case studies of typical 50 MW solar thermal power plants in the Indian climatic conditions at locations such as Jodhpur and Delhi is highlighted with the help of techno-economic model Different solar concentrator technologies (parabolic trough, parabolic dish and central power tower) for solar thermal power plants are compared economically It has been found that the parabolic dish concentrating solar Stirling engine power plant generate electricity at a lower unit cost than the other two solar technologies considering 30 years lifespan and 10% interest rate on investment

State-of-the-art of solar thermal power plants—A review

Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector solar thermal powerplants

DELSOLS is a revised and updated version of the DELSOL2 computer program (SAND81-8237) for calculating collector field performance and layout and optimal system design for solar thermal central receiver plants. The code consists of a detailed model of the optical performance, a simpler model of the non-optical performance, an algorithm for field layout, and a searching algorithm to find the best system design based on energy cost. The latter two features are coupled to a cost model of central receiver components and an economic model for calculating energy costs. The code can handle flat, focused and/or canted heliostats, and external cylindrical, multi-aperture cavity, and flat plate receivers. The program optimizes the tower height, receiver size, field layout, heliostat spacings, and tower position a t user specified power levels subject to flux limits on the receiver and land constraints for field layout. DELSOL3 maintains the advantages of speed and accuracy which are characteristics of DELSOL2. SOLAR THERMAL TECHNOLOGY FOREWORD The research and development described in this document was conducted within the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Solar Thermal Technology Program. The goal of the Solar Thermal Technology Program is to advance the engineering and scientific understanding of solar thermal technology, and to establish the technology base from which private industry can develop solar thermal power production options for introduction into the competitive energy market. Solar thermal technology concentrates solar radiation by means of tracking mirrors or lenses onto a receiver where the solar energy is absorbed as heat and converted into electricity or incorporated into products as process heat. The two primary solar thermal technologies, central receivers and distributed receivers, employ various point and line-focus optics to concentrate sunlight. Current central receiver systems use fields of heliostats (two-axis tracking mirrors) to focus the sun's radiant energy onto a single tower-mounted receiver. Parabolic dishes up to 17 meters in diameter track the sun in two axes and use mirrors or Fresnel lenses to focus radiant energy onto a receiver. Troughs and bowls are line-focus tracking reflectors that concentrate sunlight onto receiver tubes along their focal lines. Concentrating collector modules can'be used alone or in a multi-module system. The concentrated radiant energy absorbed by the solar thermal receiver is transported to the conversion process by a circulating working fluid. Receiver temperatures range from 100" C in low-temperature troughs to over 1500' C in dish and central receiver systems. The Solar Thermal Technology Program is directing efforts to advance and improve promising system concepts through the research and development of solar thermal materials, components, and subsystems, and the testing and performance evaluation of subsystems and systems. These efforts are carried out through the technical direction of DOE and its network of national laboratories who work with private industry. Together they have established a comprehensive, goal directed program to improve performance and provide technically proven options for eventual incorporation into the nation's energy supply. To be successful in contributing to an adequate national energy supply at reasonable cost, solar thermal energy must eventually be economically competitive with a variety of other energy sources. Components and system-level performance targets have been developed as quantitative program goals. The performance targets are used in planning research and development activities, measuring progress, assessing alternative technology options, and making optimal component developments. These targets will be pursued vigorously to insure a successful program.

A user's manual for DELSOL3: A computer code for calculating the optical performance and optimal system design for solar thermal central receiver plants

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ese3.239

Solar power technology for electricity generation: A critical review

An analytic function for the flux density due to sunlight reflected from a heliostat

The modeling of the performance of large-area solar concentrators for central receiver power plants is formulated using a continuum field representation of ideal heliostat arrays that accounts for two governing factors: the law of reflection of light rays imposes steering constraints on mirror orientations; the proximity of mirrors creates shadow effects by blocking the incident and/or reflected solar radiation. The results of a steering analysis which develops the space-time characteristics of heliostats and of a shadow analysis which determines the local effectiveness of mirrors in reflecting solar energy to a central point are combined to obtain in closed analytical form the global characteristics of circular concentrators. These characteristics which appear as time profiles for mirror orientations, for effective concentration areas (i.e., reflected solar flux), and for concentration ratios, establish theoretical limits of performance against which actual or realistic solar power systems can be compared and assessed.

M. R. Riaz

Papers

A Theory of Concentrators of Solar Energy on a Central Receiver for Electric Power Generation

A theory of concentrators of solar energy on a central receiver for electric power generation