Chapter 2

Literature Review

This chapter outlines a brief overview of the literature surveyed for this research project. This
review highlights the methodologies of different field layout models and focused on different
approaches for optimizing the heliostat field of central receiver system.

2.1 Renewable Energy

Scheer states that conventional energy systems rely mainly on fossil fuels which have proven to
be greatly effective for the economic growth, but damaging the environment and society at the
same time. The author proposes that renewable energy should be used to replace the fossil fuels,
which are used for power generation, to achieve the benefit of clean environment and human
health.

Visagie and Prasad describes that an increase in economic growth usually takes place at the cost
of environmental degradation but the renewable energy technology is being adopted for
obtaining the society and the environmental benefits.

Renewable energy technologies that are sustainable utilize renewable energy sources such as
solar thermal energy, wind power, photovoltaic, hydro power, tidal power, wave power, biomass
energy, and geothermal energy for electrical power generation. Stine and Geyer explain the
working principle and applications of solar thermal energy technology which is used for
converting the solar radiations into thermal energy. The authors also illustrate an enhancement of
concentrated solar power (CSP) technology which concentrates the sunlight into a small area to
attain high temperature.

2.2 Concentrated Solar Power

Solar Energy is a clean and renewable energy source and it is getting more attention especially in
electrical power generation because of the shortage and environmental pollution of fossil fuels.
Among the available renewable technologies, concentrated solar power (CSP) is one with the
greatest capability to make clean energy contributions for large-scale electricity production due
to its relatively conventional technology and easy to scale-up.

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Unlike photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, which employ light to generate electricity, concentrated
solar power systems utilize heat to produce electricity. Solar collectors use reflective mirrors to
concentrate solar radiations onto a thermal receiver which absorbs the sunlight and converts it
into high temperature heat. Afterwards heat is transferred to a steam generator where it is
translated into electrical power.

2.2.1 CSP Technologies

There are four optical types of CSP technology available for getting solar energy such as
Parabolic Trough System, Dish Stirling System, Fresnel Reflector, and Solar Central Receiver
System. These technologies can be divided into two groups which are known as line
concentrators and point concentrators. Line concentrators include linear Fresnel and parabolic
trough systems and point concentrators involve dish Stirling and central receiver technologies.
Point concentrators have the benefit regarding to achieving the much greater concentration than
line concentrators.

Figure 2.1: Types of CSP technologies

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 Table 1: Comparison of CSP technologies

Technology Linear Parabolic Parabolic Solar Power

Fresnel Trough Dishes Towers
Concentration 60 70-80 1300 1000
(suns)
Typical 10 16 25 17
efficiency (%)
Overall plant 18 20 30 35
efficiency (%)
Capacity (MW) 200 300 0.025 200
Capacity factor 24 43 28 55
(%) (no-storage) (7h-storage) (no-storage) (10h-storage)
R & D status pilot phase proven demonstration near
commercially stage commercial
implementation
Possible Substantial Limited mass highly
Improvements production substantial
methods
Typical 12 18 30 28
efficiency with
improvements
(%)

2.3 Central Receiver System (CRS)

Central receiver systems are one of the flagships of renewable energies depends on concentration
of the solar energy and they are contemplated as a feasible choice to replace conventional fossil
fuel power facilities. They are distinguished by operational efficiency, output stability, and
thermal energy storage.

Central receiver system is also known as a solar power tower (SPT) system uses a tower to
receive the concentrated sunlight. It contains highly reflective sun-tracking mirrors called
heliostats that are used to reflect sunlight onto a receiver which is located on a top of the tower.
The receiver collects the solar energy and absorbs it in a heat transfer medium (e.g. molten salt)
that flows by the receiver. Heat energy of the working fluid is then used to yield a steam to
generate electrical power in a conventional steam generator, mounted at the foot of the central
tower. Molten salt is a large heat capacity working fluid. Therefore, it can be used to store energy
for some hours before being employed to produce electricity.

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CRS plant is comprised five main subsystems: heliostat field, tower and receiver, control system,
heat transport and exchange system, and heat storage system. Solar power tower technology is
conceived more beneficent over other concentrating solar thermal technologies because of its
ability to obtain high operating temperature, higher field efficiency, and better energy storage
capability. SPT system is one of the greatest potential methods for thermal power generation. It
is also suitable for large-scale applications.

Figure 2.2: Concentrated Solar Power Tower Plant

2.3.1 Heliostat Field

Wei et al. stated that heliostat field is a pivotal subsystem in solar power towers because it
typically contributes 50% to the total cost and causes power losses by 40%. Therefore, the design
and optimization of heliostat field layout are very important.

Besarati and Goswami described that optimal design of the heliostat field is of great importance
and has been the subject of many studies. The main reason is that 50% of the total cost of the
power plant and 40% of the energy losses are associated with the heliostat field.
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Adulaimi and Soylemez described that the ideal layout of the heliostat field is of primary
importance and the topic of many studies, mainly because the heliostat approach accounts for
50% of the full price of the scheme, and the annual energy loss is approximately 47%.

The overall optical efficiency of the heliostat field of the central receiver system is the product of
five efficiency factors:

η = ηcos × ηatt × ηint × ηs&b × ηref

Where ηcos defines the cosine efficiency, ηatt is the atmospheric transmission efficiency, ηint
represents the interception efficiency, ηs&b represents the shadowing and blocking efficiency and
ηref is known as the heliostat reflectivity.