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This paper identifies potential methods of enabling CSP plants to provide primary operating reserves. One particular method, namely the use of a steam accumulator, is investigated in more detail. The size and cost of such an accumulator are estimated. The results may be used by electricity regulators, who need to assess whether CSP plants should be required to provide primary frequency support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of the economy, Lebanon's appetite for electricity is growing continuously. The current fossil fuel based electricity has caused severe environmental degradation and energy shortage. Lebanon should make use of renewable energy resources to help transform its economy into a low-carbon one. Constructing parabolic trough & Stirling dish solar thermal power plants in Lebanon, will contribute in this transformation, reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, and reduce CO2 emissions. The parabolic trough & Stirling dish solar power plants can provide scientific basis for future large scale application and industrialization evaluation in Lebanon. This paper includes a feasibility study for constructing a parabolic trough power plant as well as a prototype 5 MW Stirling dish plant which are to be located in the Zahle Plain. An available land area of 1,000,000 m2 (250 Acres) suitable for such an establishment was found in cooperation with “Electricité de Zahle” (EDZ). Since the parabolic trough technology is the most commercially proven, the major part of this paper describes the 40 MW parabolic trough power plant studied. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Parabolic trough is the most proven solar thermal electric technology. It uses the idea of concentrated solar power. The present day parabolic trough has some deficiencies too. This paper introduces the idea of green house effect to increase the efficiency of the parabolic solar trough. By enclosing the upper surface or open surface by a glass vacuum chamber to decrease the convective heat loss. This design can go a long way to decrease the heat loss & increase the efficiency of the parabolic trough. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Parabolic troughs are the most mature technology and have lowest cost compared to other technologies. A comparison between EuroTrough and HelioTrough is carried out in this work. An energy balance model for the trough's absorber tube is used to estimate the optical and thermal losses from the collector. Engineering Equation Solver (EES) was used as a tool to simulate the trough. Results show that the thermal losses from the HelioTrough are more that loss from EuroTrough. Although this fact, the total energy gained from the HelioTrough is much more than EuroTrough. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Worldwide initiative to transform its energy industry from being based on polluting fossil-fuels into cleaner renewable energy resources is growing. Interest is growing in generating power using Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CSTP) plants where solar energy is concentrated to heat a working fluid and run the turbine to generate electricity. The paper focuses on the selection process of thermal fluids/salts for thermal storage of a parabolic trough CSTP plant by analyzing their Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) and power output after each optimization process. Simulation is performed under the geographic context of Cape Town in an investigative attempt to achieve 24 hour generation. The software used for simulation is the System Advisor Model (SAM) which is an open source software made by the National Renewable Energy Laboratories, USA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The increasing cost of fossil fuel and crisis of energy has led the world in a quest for exploiting the free and naturally available energy from the sun to produce electric power. This paper summarizes the development situation of the solar thermal electric technology with description and comparison for three prevalent power generation methods: parabolic trough, parabolic dish-engine, and solar power. A 10 kW parabolic trough design scheme is proposed for potential development practically. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Parabolic trough technology is a strong system to product electricity from solar energy and to generate steam for different industrial usages. Nowadays, it is considered as the lowest cost and powerful large-scale technology to utilize solar energy. This article recommends generation of electricity by using Parabolic Trough Solar Concentrator (PTSC) in the central area of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) at Dawadmi city. Pressurized water is used as heat transfer working fluid. The performance parameters of Euro Trough Collector (ETC) were investigated by Computer simulation technique using MATLAB software. The input data contained the properties of the working fluid (Pressurized water) and the designing parameters of ETC. While the output data will be: the outlet water temperature, the coefficient of heat transfer, the heat loss, and the efficiencies (thermal, solar and global). Simulated results showed the ability of using this type of parabolic trough in KSA to generate electric power due to the high performance parameters achieved. Also the validity of using simulation technique was carried out and showed good conformity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]