Page 138 - A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems

Chapter 7 • Concentrating Solar Thermal Power 137

FIGURE 7.6 Aerial view of the plant SOLAR-II, a concentrating solar thermal power (CSTP) plant with central receiver.

For the time being, unlike CST plants with PTC, central receiver systems have been
commercially used for electricity production only. IPH applications are not considered as
convenient for central receiver systems as they are for PTC systems. The technical com-
plexity of central receiver systems makes their coupling to industrial processes more dif-
ficult. However, this type of commercial application for central receiver systems can’t be
completely excluded in a long-term.
In Spain, after initial experimental projects in the 1980s and 1990s, the first commercial
CSTP plant was put in operation in 2007. It was the plant PS-10, promoted by the Spanish
company ABEnGOA [14]. Since then, the PS-10 plant has been in routine operation with a
nominal output power of 10 mW e . Other commercial plants with central receiver technol-
ogy were implemented later on in Spain (PS-20 and GEmASOlAR plants) and other coun-
tries for electricity generation (such as the Ivanpah and Crescent dunes plants in uSA and
the Khi Solar One plant in South Africa).
Although commercial deployment of central receiver systems started more slowly than
PTC plants, an increasing number of commercial CSTP plants with central receivers are
being considered for implementation over the next few years. The main reason for this is
because their overall efficiency (i.e., from solar to electricity) is higher (∼17.5%) than that
of plants with PTC (16%). The reason why most of the initial projects for commercial CSTP
plants in the present century were designed with PTC instead of central receiver was the
higher confidence of investors in PTC technology due to the operational experience ac-
cumulated by the SEGS plants installed in California (USA) between 1985 and 1991 [11].
The lack of previous operational experience with central receiver plants was a significant
barrier to their deployment and financing. Once this barrier had been overcome with the
implementation of the first commercial plants (i.e., PS-10, PS-20, and GEmASOlAR), the
funding required for central receiver plants has been much easier to obtain.