Concentrated solar power systems

Tamme, R., et al. (2003), Advanced Hydrogen Generation with Concentrated Solar Power Systems , Proceedings ofISEC 2003 International Solar Energy Conference, Hawaii, USA, 16-18 March. 

Concentrating solar power systems use mirrors to concentrate sunlight to produce temperatures high enough to drive modem, efficient heat engines and to produce electrical power. All concentrating solar power technologies rely on... 

Solar Thermal Collector A device designed to receive solar radiation and convert it into thermal energy. Normally, a solar thermal collector includes a frame, glazing and an absorber, together with the appropriate insulation. The heat collected by the solar thermal collector may be used immediately or stored for later use. Typical use is in solar hot water heating systems. Also, see Passive Solar and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). ... 

Design and installation of a 350-kW demonstration plant in the Solar Village near Riyadh. This consisted of a concentrating photovoltaic power system, an advanced electrolyser system, a grid-operated rectifier and the necessaiy gas handling and storage system. 

Figure 1.1.17 The solar refinery as the conceptual contribution of chemistry by chemical energy conversion to the sustainable use of renewable energy. The upstream part (hydrogen generation) and the downstream parts need not to be colocalized in a practical realization. CSP stands for concentrated solar power. Green boxes indicate solar fuel products blue boxes stand for intermediate platform chemicals. The red arrows indicate flows of solar hydrogen to a storage and transport system for large-scale applications. The blue arrows show the major application lines for chemical production of solar fuels. The scheme also indicates the role of fertilizers from ammonia required in sustained use of biomass for energetic applications.

The use of solar powered systems for destruction of a mixture of pesticides in well water including dichloroaniline, benzopyran, atrazine, propazine, alachlor, prometryn, bromacil and cyanobenzoate has been achieved [124], Variable efficiencies for the decomposition of these compounds was observed with over 90% of dichloroaniline destroyed in 10 h compared to 50% of propazine in the same period. In general for most of the pesticides examined the half life time for the process in the 100 ppb concentration range was less than 1 h. 

The high temperatures generated by concentrated solar power can be used to drive chemical reactions. The reverse reaction releases the chemically stored energy as thermal energy. Various systems have been investigated, such as the dissociation of sulphur trioxide (De Maria et al., 1985) ... 

Depending on the system, concentrating solar power generation can be designed to produce from tens to hundreds of megawatts of electricity. The power from it can be dispatchable, because these systems have cost-effective thermal storage and they can be hybridized (coupled with a conventional power plant). Consequently, these plants can produce power before or after sunrise (or 24-hour operation if desired). Concentrating solar power stations are best suited to be either peak-load or intermediate-load power stations. 

Concentrator Cells and Systems. Concentrators circumvent the problem of high semiconductor material cost by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight on small surface areas of more expensive solar cells. Concentration allows more power to be produced from a given amount of photosensitive material. 

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