Solar thermal power

Abstract

Solar thermal power is produced by three types of concentrating systems, which utilize parabolic troughs, dishes, and heliostats as the solar concentrators. These systems are at various levels of development and commercialization in the United States and in Europe. The U.S. Industry is currently developing these systems for export at the end of this century and at the beginning of the next one for remote power, village electrification, and grid-connected power. U.S. utilities are not forecasting to need power generation capacity until the middle of the first decade of the 21{sup st} century. At that time, solar thermal electric power systems should be cost competitive with conventional power generation in some unique U.S. markets. In this paper, the authors describe the current status of the development of trough electric, dish/engine, and power tower solar generation systems. 46 refs., 20 figs., 8 tabs.