How does concentrating solar power (CSP) work?
Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Acrobat Reader. Basically, CSP systems collect and concentrate (focus) the solar energy in sunlight to generate electricity. The three kinds of concentrating solar power systems — parabolic troughs, power towers, and dish/engines — are classified according to how they collect solar energy. Parabolic Troughs: In parabolic trough systems, curved, trough-like collectors reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a receiver, a pipe running along the inside of the curved surface of the trough. The concentrated solar energy heats a heat transfer fluid (usually oil) flowing through the pipe; this heated fluid is then used to run a conventional steam generator for electricity production. If we install numerous troughs in parallel rows, we have what’s known as a collector field. The field is typically aligned on a north-south axis, which allows the troughs to track the sun from east to west during the day. This ensures tha
