Advances in Parabolic Trough Solar Power Technology

Solar Trough Integration Into Combined Cycle Systems

Preliminary thermoeconomic analysis of combined parabolic trough solar power and desalination plant in port Safaga (Egypt)

Third international conference on photochemical conversion and storage of solar energy

Geometric Modularity in the Thermal Modeling of Solar Steam Turbines

Vacuum evaluation of parabolic trough receiver tubes in a 50 MW concentrated solar power plant

A systematic literature review on the economic performance of solar thermal power plants including integrated solar combined cycle (ISCC) plants was conducted. A number of solar thermal technologies like parabolic trough (PT), solar tower (ST), linear Fresnel reflector (LFR) and solar dish (SD) were evaluated. The evaluation revealed that solar tower plants typically had the highest capital costs, followed by parabolic-trough and linear Fresnel plants. The results of the studies showed that at smaller capacities of 10–50 MW, PT plants achieved lower LCOE than ST plants, while at larger capacities of 100 MW and above, ST tend to have lower LCOE than PT. There was limited comparative studies on the economic performance of LFR and SD plants. Hence, future studies should focus on the economic impact of different solar thermal technologies including LFR and SD of various capacities using homogeneous modelling conditions. The economic performance of direct steam generation (DSG)-ISCC plants was compared to ISCC, combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) and conventional solar thermal plants and the results showed that DSG-ISCC plants achieved the lowest LCOE values. Studies also showed that in general, hybrid plants achieved lower LCOE than standalone solar thermal plants. LCOE and capital costs were the dominant financial metrics used in the literature, with very few studies using total life cycle cost, revenues, payback time and internal rate of return. Future studies should include these metrics in order to provide a comprehensive financial assessment of solar thermal power plants, enabling their economic performance to be compared with other renewable and non-renewable energy systems.

Feasibility Study of Parabolic Trough Solar Power Plant under Algerian Climate

Design, commissioning and operation of a mini hybrid parabolic trough solar thermal power plant for direct steam generation

Parabolic trough power plants have several concepts for production energy, these concepts are developed by Solar Electric Generating System (SEGS) and Direct Solar Steam (DISS) project for research and development, the SEGS is developed the integrated solar combined cycle system (ISCCS), however in recent years the DISS project with direct steam generation (DSG) technology proves the evaluation from the cost, the process control and the easy erection in construction. There are many studies developed in the solar hybrid power plants system for ISCCS and DSG, in this paper will be evaluated these models of solar hybrid system compound a natural gas combined-cycle backup for solar thermal energy, taken into account the thermodynamic analyses and techno-economic assessment for each concept of the ISCCS and DSG plants. These models evaluated in this work will be simulated with TRNSYS program and SAM System Advisor Model. This analysis was conducted to get the performance in these concepts and shows the lower levelized energy cost (LEC), so to increase to the electricity net efficiency in solar contribution of the power plants.

With the view to minimize the energy crisis due to the ever depleting non-renewable energy resources, this research aimed to apply nanotechnology to enhance the efficacy of solar energy power plant – a renewable energy resource. According to literature Concentrated Solar Power Plant system requires heat transfer fluid (HTF) for proficient working. This research reports the synthesis of novel, efficient heat transfer fluid doped with nano sized particle including carbon nanotubes and metal oxide i-e copper oxide. This nano heat transfer fluid (NHTF) has very low melting point in comparison to conventionally prepared molten salt mixture for heat transfer purpose which typically have high melting point characteristically 140°C or higher. Most prominently this NHTF has enhanced thermo-physical properties including high thermal stability and high specific heat capacity. These properties ensures effective increase in thermal energy storage (TES) which is a key factor in solar thermal power plant and make it broad range operating heat transfer fluid.

The large-scale generation of electric power using solar energy stimulates the development of novel technologies by researchers with ultimate resource qualities. Solar energy collectors are the significant part of Solar Energy Thermal Power Plant (STP), which can be operated at a particular feasible range for utilizing the solar resource with its intermittent inputs. The life span of solar thermal power plant can be increased by designing the controller with a closed loop. The proposed hybrid design of solar plant involves a controller with closed loop transferring the solar energy to the heat transfer liquid, namely therminol oil, which acts as a medium for transferring heat in Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) having single-phase flow. The concentrators are the parabolic reflectors focusing the rays on the line with a focal point using tracking mechanism having one axis. Solar collectors are utilized in the power converting technique of solar thermal energy, which concentrates sunlight for preparing Rankine cycle heat of high temperature. The steam turbine is driven by the superheated vapor using Rankine cycle with the shaft of the steam turbine connected to the generator for producing electricity. The life span of the Solar Energy Thermal Power Plant is enhanced as proposed design for solar collectors uses therminol oil as the heat transfer liquid. The controller design is implemented using Predictive Function Control (PFC) or Static Feed Forward (SFF) control with Proportional Integral Controller (PI) which provides the best performance with the added advantage of direct heat storage in the thermal plant. The simulated results are obtained for the proposed design of collector with the rate of change of variation and cost function of manipulated parameters, which are constant for the proposed controller but vary drastically for the conventional PI controller.

Energy security depends upon the supply and demand of electricity. Power supply volatility is a challenge in India power sector. India is mainly dependent on coal, which is not a viable long-term option. Hence the future of energy supply in India is renewable energy, and solar energy is the most prominent and reliable source of renewable energy. The solar power plant is classified as a low, medium, and high temperature based solar power plant. The low- temperature solar power plant, the collectors, are unglazed plates. In contract, medium-temperature collectors are flat plates, and high-temperature collectors concentrate sunlight using mirrors and lenses, achieving temperature and pressure up to 3000 °C and 20 bar. This article discusses the existing total energy scenario, current solar energy developments, supportive solar energy policies, and solar energy prospects. The tactics, availability, perspectives, potential, and successes of solar energy in India are discussed in this study. The authors compared the barriers to solar energy acceptance and examined the topic of social dissimilarity from a broad theoretical perspective. The study offers policymakers at the federal and state levels, as well as investors, a perspective on issues that may lead to investments in this area. The study states that solar energy could meet above 50% of electricity sector demand in India in 2040. This study determined that solar energy incidence in India is around 5000 trillion KWh (kilowatt-hours) each year. The solar energy accessible in a single year surpasses the energy output from the petroleum derivative. The average energy from the solar power plant is 0.30 kWh per m2 equal to the 1400–1800 peak rated capacity. India has many solar power facilities, making it one of the top producers of renewable energy power.

Solar thermal energy (STE) technology refers to the conversion of solar energy to readily usable energy forms. The most important component of a STE technology is the collectors; these absorb the shorter wavelength solar energy (400-700nm) and convert it into usable, longer wavelength (about 10 times as long) heat energy. Depending on the quality (temperature and intensity) of the resulting thermal energy, further conversions to other energy forms such as electrical power may follow. Currently some high temperature STE technologies for electricity production have attained technical maturity; technologies such as parabolic dish (commercially available), parabolic trough and power tower are only hindered by unfavourable market factors including high maintenance and operating costs. Low temperature STEs have so far been restricted to water and space heating; however, owing to their lower running costs and almost maintenance free operation, although operating at lower efficiencies, may hold a key to future wider usage of solar energy. Low temperature STE conversion technology typically uses flat plate and low concentrating collectors such as parabolic troughs to harness solar energy for conversion to mechanical and/or electrical energy. These collector systems are relatively cheaper, simpler in construction and easier to operate due to the absence of complex solar tracking equipment. Low temperature STEs operate within temperatures ranges below 300oC. This research work is geared towards developing feasible low temperature STE conversion technology for electrical power generation. Preliminary small-scale concept plants have been designed at 500Wp and 10KWp. Mathematical models of the plant systems have been developed and simulated on the EES (Engineering Equation Solver) platform. Fourteen candidate working fluids and three cycle configurations have been analysed with the models. The analyses included a logic model selector through which an optimal conversion cycle configuration and working fluid mix was established. This was followed by detailed plant component modelling; the detailed component model for the solar field was completed and was based on 2-dimensional segmented thermal network, heat transfer and thermo fluid dynamics analyses. Input data such as solar insolation, ambient temperature and wind speed were obtained from the national meteorology databases. Detailed models of the other cycle components are to follow in next stage of the research. This paper presents findings of the system and solar field component.

This paper discusses about one of the possible solutions to overcome the influence of dust on the surface of solar PV panel. A decrease in power output with the increase in particle deposition has been identified in large scale solar PV power generation where there were many numbers of solar panels connected in the form of arrays and each array requires a robot to carry out efficient cleaning with in stipulated time. Autonomous automatic cleaning operation along with self-control and monitoring of accumulated dust with proper coordination through networking between robots is prerequisite option to attain efficient cleaning system in large scale solar power plants. To accomplish the same, selection of appropriate communication technology for real time wireless networking of solar cleaning robots with low power consumption and data delay to operate over wide area is required. Here an attempt had been made to bring in an automated robot cleaning system using low power wide area network (LPWAN) based on a network of ESP 8266 Node MCU’s associated with a set of sensors under different configurations which showed successful results for implementation in industrial scale large solar PV power plants.

A path to sustainable development goals: A case study on the thirteen largest photovoltaic power plants