Page 5 - Design of Solar Thermal Power Plants

Preface

SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANT DESIGN

Since the beginning of China’s research on solar thermal power (also
known as concentrating solar power, CSP) generation in 1996, CSP gener-
ation technologies have gone through the entire development process
from inception to realization. Ever since “the 11th Five-Year Plan,” CSP
generation technologies have enjoyed rapid development throughout
the country, with the appearance of a large variety of experimental solar
thermal collection and storage systems and experimental power plants.
Breakthroughs have also been made in the manufacturing techniques of
core components and materials; professional CSP generation equipment
manufacturers have also appeared. The first China state standard for
CSP technology was released in September 2011. Along with a further
deepening of technologies during “the 12th Five-Year Plan” as well as
commercial development, this reference book for CSP plant design has
become a requisite work for understanding solar power plant commer-
cialization. Currently, there is no other reference book in the world that
systematically describes the design methods of CSP plants.
The book mainly focuses on CSP technologies, and those mainly
consist of power tower and parabolic trough collector technologies and
thermal storage. The book not only describes the design of CSP systems,
but also explains the design methods and operation modes of key facil-
ities in detail, such as the heliostat, heliostat field, parabolic trough
concentrator, parabolic trough receiver tube, and whole-plant distributed
control system, or DCS. It also discusses the fundamental basis of
designing CSP plants and system as well as the key design points that
should be considered.
CSP generation design mainly includes resource evaluation, site selec-
tion, design of the optical efficiency of the concentration field, thermal
control of the receiver and electrical design, thermal storage capacity, ther-
mal storage charging and discharging design, heat exchanger and evapo-
ration design, whole-plant electrics, whole-plant thermal control
instruments, power plant construction, and whole-plant security design.
By focusing on the contents just mentioned, the book offers calculation
and design methods separately in different chapters and provides

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