Technology

Parabolic Trough Solar Field Technology

A parabolic trough power plant's solar field consists of a large, modular array of single-axistracking parabolic trough solar collectors. Many parallel rows of these solar collectors span
across the solar field, usually aligned on a north-south horizontal axis.
The basic component of a parabolic trough solar field is the solar collector assembly or SCA.
A solar field consists of hundreds or potentially thousands of solar collector assemblies. Each
solar collector assembly is an independently tracking, parabolic trough solar collector
composed of the following key subsystems:

Concentrator structure

Mirrors or reflectors

Linear receiver or heat collection element

Collector balance of system

Also, each parabolic trough solar collector assembly consists of multiple, torque-tube or
truss assemblies (often referred to as solar collector elements or modules).

Concentrator Structure
The structural skeleton of the parabolic trough solar collector is the concentrator structure.
The concentrator structure:

Supports the mirrors and receivers, maintaining them in optical alignment

Withstands external forces, such as wind

Allows the collector to rotate, so the mirrors and receiver can track the sun.
Types of collectors include:

Luz system

EuroTrough

Solargenix
Luz System Collectors
Luz system collectors represent the standard by which all other collectors are compared.
The industrial nature of these collectorsmade from galvanized steelmakes them suitable
for commercial power plant applications. And they have proven to be highly reliable. For
example, most of the SEGS (solar electric generation system) power plants used Luz system
collectors.
There are two types of Luz system collectors: LS-2 and LS-3.
The LS-2 collector features a very accurate design. Its torque-tube structure is simple to
erect and provides torsional stiffness. It has six torque-tube collector modules, three on

either side of the drive. And each torque tube has two 4-meter-long receivers.
Unfortunately, the torque tube uses a lot of steel and requires precise manufacturing to
build.
For reducing manufacturing costs, Luz designed the larger LS-3 to lower manufacturing
tolerance and require less steel. It proved to be a very reliable design. The LS-3 uses a
bridge truss structure in place of the torque-tube. Luz's LS-3 collector has truss assemblies
on either side of the drive. Each LS-3 truss assembly has three, 4-meter-long receivers.
The LS-3 truss design didn't lower manufacturing costs as much as expected. It also
suffered from insufficient torsional stiffness, which led to lower than expected optical and
thermal performance.
EuroTrough Collector
Following the demise of Luz, a European consortiumEuroTroughinitiated the
development of a new collector design intended to build on the advantages of the LS-2 and
the LS-3. The EuroTrough collector utilized a torque-box design to integrate the torsional
stiffness of a torque tube and the lower steel content of a truss design.

Solargenix Collector
The Solargenix collector is made from extruded aluminum. It uses a unique organic hubbing
structure, which Gossamer Spaceframes initially developed for buildings and bridges. The
new design:

Weighs less than steel designs

Requires very few fasteners

Requires no welding or specialized manufacturing

Assembles easily

Requires no field alignment.

Mirrors or Reflectors
The most obvious features of the parabolic trough solar collector are its parabolic-shaped
mirrors or reflectors. The mirrors are curved in the shape of a parabola, which allows them
to concentrate the sun's direct beam radiation on the linear receiver.
All current parabolic trough power plants use glass mirror panels manufactured by Flabeg.
The mirrors are second-surface silvered glass mirrors (which means that the reflective silver
layer is on the backside of the glass). The glass is a 4-milimeter-thick, special low iron or
white glass with a high transmittance.
The mirrors have a solar-weighted specular reflectivity of about 93.5%. A special multilayer
paint coating protects the silver on the back of the mirror. And each mirror panel is
approximately 2 square meters in area.

The LS-3 collector features 224 mirror panels on each solar collector assembly. The 80MWe SEGS IX power plant has 888 LS-3 solar collector assemblies and almost 200,000
mirror panels.
The glass mirror panels have performed very well during the operation of the SEGS (solar
electric generating system) power plants. They've maintained high reflectivity and suffer low
annual breakage rates. However, mirror breakage does occur and replacements have been
relatively expensive. A number of alternative mirror concepts have been under development
to reduce cost, improve reliability, or increase performance.

Linear Receiver or Heat Collection Element

The parabolic trough linear receiver, also called a heat collection element (HCE), is one of
the primary reasons for the high efficiency of the original Luz parabolic trough collector
design.
The receiver is a 4-meter-long, 70-mm diameter stainless steel tube with a special solarselective absorber surface, surrounded by an anti-reflective evacuated 115-mm diameter
glass tube. Located at the mirror focal line of the parabola, the receiver heats a special heat
transfer fluid as it circulates through the receiver tube.
The receiver has glass-to-metal seals and metal bellows to accommodate for differing
thermal expansions between the steel tubing and the glass envelop. They also help achieve
the necessary vacuum-tight enclosure.
The vacuum-tight enclosure primarily serves to significantly reduce heat losses at highoperating temperatures. It also protects the solar-selective absorber surface from oxidation.
The selective coating on the steel tube has good solar absorptance and a low thermal
emittance for reducing thermal radiation losses. The glass cylinder features an antireflective coating to maximize the solar transmittance. Gettersmetallic compounds
designed to absorb gas moleculesare installed in the vacuum space to absorb hydrogen
and other gases that permeate into the vacuum annulus over time.
The original Luz receiver design suffered from poor reliability of the glass-to-metal seal.
Solel Solar Systems and Schott Glass have developed newer designs that have substantially
improved:

Receiver reliability

Optical and thermal performance

The lifetime of receivers.

Collector Balance of System

A number of other key components make up the balance of system in the parabolic trough
solar field, including:

Pylons and foundations

Drive

Controls

Collector interconnect
Pylons and Foundations
The pylons support the collector structure. They allow the collector to rotate and track the
sun. The pylon is mounted on a concrete foundation that can support the weight and wind
loading on the collector. Pylons also support the drive and controls at the center of the
collector, and the bearings between each solar collector element (truss or torque tube) and
at the end of the collector.
Drive
Each solar collector assembly includes one drive. The drive positions the collector to track
the sun during the day. The sun's beam radiation continuously reflects off the mirrors and
onto the linear receiver.
The drive is located at the center of the collector. It can be either a standard motor and gear
box configuration (LS-2) or can use a hydraulic drive system (LS-3, EuroTrough, Solargenix
SGX-1). The drive must be able to accurately position the collector for tracking. It should
also be able to handle the wind loads.

Controls
Each solar collector assembly has its own local controller (LOC) that controls its operation.
The local controller controls the tracking of the collector. It also monitors for any alarm
conditions, such as a high or low fluid temperature in the receiver.

The local controller communicates with a supervisory computer in the power plant control
building. The supervisory computer sends commands to the local controller telling it when to
start tracking the sun or when to stop tracking at the end of the day.
Collector Interconnect
Each solar collector assembly operates independently from the adjacent collector. Luz
installed insulated flexible hoses at the end of the collector for connecting the receiver to
header piping and between two adjacent collectors.
The flex hose allows the collectors to rotate independently. The original flex hose designs
proved to be inadequate for the service and suffered from high failure rates. KJC Operating
Company developed a new ball joint assembly to replace the flex hose. The ball joint
assemblies appear to be more reliable and have lower pumping losses.

Parabolic Trough Thermal Energy Storage Technology

One advantage of parabolic trough power plants is their potential for storing solar thermal
energy to use during non-solar periods and to dispatch when it's needed most. As a result,
thermal energy storage (TES) allows parabolic trough power plants to achieve higher annual
capacity factorsfrom 25% without thermal storage up to 70% or more with it.
Parabolic trough thermal energy storage technology includes:

Storage systems

Two-tank direct
Two-tank indirect
Single-tank thermocline
Molten-salt heat transfer fluid
Storage media
o
Concrete
o
Phase-change materials
o
o
o

Thermal Energy Storage Systems

Two-Tank Direct
The first Luz trough plant, SEGS I, included a direct two-tank thermal energy storage
system with 3 hours of full-load storage capacity. This system simply used the mineral oil
(Caloria) heat transfer fluid (HTF) to store energy for later use. It operated between 1985
and 1999 and was used to dispatch solar power to meet the Southern California Edison
winter evening peak demand period (weekdays between 5-10 p.m.).
Because power plants later moved to higher operating temperatures for improving power
cycle efficiency, they also switched to a new higher temperature heat transfer fluida
eutectic mixture of biphenyl-diphenyl oxide (Therminol VP-1 or Dowtherm A). Unfortunately,
this fluid has a high vapor pressure. Therefore, it cannot be used in the same type of large
unpressurized storage tank system similar to the one used for SEGS I.
Pressurized storage tanks are very expensive. They cannot be manufactured at the large
sizes needed for parabolic trough plants.
Two-Tank Indirect
In recent years, a new indirect thermal energy storage (TES) approach has been developed.
This approach takes advantage of the experience with the storage system used in the Solar
Two a molten-salt power tower demonstration projectand integrates it into a parabolic
trough plant with the conventional heat transfer fluid through a series of heat exchangers.
The thermal energy storage system is charged by taking hot, heat transfer fluid (HTF) from
the solar field and running it through the heat exchangers. Cold molten-salt is taken from
the cold storage tank and run counter currently through the heat exchangers. It's heated
and stored in the hot storage tank for later use. Later, when the energy in storage is
needed, the system simply operates in reverse to reheat the solar heat transfer fluid, which
generates steam to run the power plant. It's referred to as an indirect system because it
uses a fluid for the storage medium that's different from what's circulated in the solar field.
Several parabolic trough power plants under development in Spain plan to use this thermal
energy storage concept. For future parabolic trough power plants, a number of alternative
approaches are being considered for reducing the cost of the thermal energy systems.
A two-tank indirect thermal energy storage system is relatively expensiveits primary
disadvantage. The expense is due to the heat exchangers and the relatively small
temperature difference between the cold and hot fluid in the storage system.
Single-Tank Thermocline
A single tank for storing both the hot and cold fluid provides one possibility for further
reducing the cost of a direct two-tank storage system. This thermocline storage system
features the hot fluid on top and the cold fluid on the bottom. The zone between the hot and
cold fluids is called the thermocline.

A thermocline storage system has an additional advantagemost of the storage fluid can be
replaced with a low-cost filler material. Sandia National Laboratories has demonstrated a
2.5-MWhr, backed-bed thermocline storage system with binary molten-salt fluid, and
quartzite rock and sand for the filler material.
Depending on the cost of the storage fluid, the thermocline can result in a substantially
lower cost storage system. However, the thermocline storage system must maintain the
thermocline zone in the tank, so that it does not expand to occupy the entire tank.

Direct Molten-Salt Heat Transfer Fluid

Using molten-salt in both the solar field and thermal energy storage system eliminates the
need for expensive heat exchangers. It allows the solar field to be operated at higher
temperatures than current heat transfer fluids allow. This combination also allows for a
substantial reduction in the cost of the thermal energy storage (TES) system.
Unfortunately, molten-salts freeze at relatively high temperatures 120 to 220C (250430F). This means that special care must be taken to ensure that the salt does not freeze
in the solar field piping during the night.
The Italian research laboratory, ENEA, has proven the technical feasibility of using moltensalt in a parabolic trough solar field with a salt mixture that freezes at 220C (430F). And
Sandia National Laboratories are developing new salt mixtures with the potential for freeze
points below 100C (212F). At 100C the freeze problem is expected to be much more
manageable.

Thermal Energy Storage Media

Concrete
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is examining the performance, durability and cost of
using solid, thermal energy storage media (high-temperature concrete or castable ceramic
materials) in parabolic trough power plants.
This system uses the standard heat transfer fluid (HTF) in the solar field. The heat transfer
fluid passes through an array of pipes imbedded in the solid medium to transfer the thermal
energy to and from the media during plant operation.
The primary advantage of this approach is the low cost of the solid media. Primary issues
include maintaining good contact between the concrete and piping, and the heat transfer
rates into and out of the solid medium.
At the Plataforma Solar de Almeria in Southern Spain, Ciemat and DLR performed initial
testing that found both the castable ceramic and high-temperature concrete suitable for
solid media, sensible heat storage systems. However, the high-temperature concrete is
favored because of lower costs, higher material strength, and easier handling. There is no
sign of degradation between the heat exchanger pipes and storage material.
DLR has also developed a design tool that helps optimize the storage layout, including the
geometric dimensions and piping and module arrangement to minimize pressure losses and
optimize manufacturing aspects and costs.

Because of the modular nature of concrete storage, DLR has identified approaches that
allow the storage system to better integrate with the solar field and power cycle. This allows
for improved overall utilization of the concrete storage system. DLR is also testing a new,
more optimized concrete storage module at the University of Stuttgart.
Phase-Change Materials
Phase-change materials (PCMs) allow large amounts of energy to be stored in relatively
small volumes, resulting in some of the lowest storage media costs of any storage concepts.
Initially phase-change materials were considered for use in conjunction with parabolic
trough plants that used Therminol VP-1 in the solar field. Luz, and later ZSW, proposed an
approach that used a cascading set of phase-change materials to transfer heat from the
heat transfer fluid (HTF). In this approach, thermal energy transfers to a series of heat
exchangers containing phase-change material that melt at slightly different temperatures.
To discharge the storage, the heat transfer fluid flow is reversed. This results in reheating of
the heat transfer fluid.
Although testing proved the technical feasibility of this system, further development of the
concept was hindered because of the:

Complexity of the system

Thermodynamic penalty of going from sensible heat to latent heat and back to
sensible heat

Uncertainty over the lifetime of phase-change materials.

More recently DLR is evaluating phase-change thermal energy storage for application with
direct steam generation in the parabolic trough solar field. This allows for a better
thermodynamic match between the phase-change material and the phase-change of steam
used in the solar field. In this approach a single phase-change material can be used to
preheat, boil, and superheat steam. DLR has found that the cost of the system is driven not
only by the cost of phase-change storage material, but also by the rate at which energy will
be charged or discharged from the material.
Also, DLR has developed a graphite foil that it uses to sandwich the phase-change material
for increasing heat transfer rates. Lab scale tests of this approach have demonstrated its
feasibility. And future tests will be integrated into the DISS facility at the Plataforma Solar
de Almeria.

Parabolic Trough Power Plant System Technology

A parabolic trough solar power plant uses a large field of collectors to supply thermal energy
to a conventional power plant. Because they use conventional power cycles, parabolic
trough power plants can be hybridizedother fuels can be used to back up the solar power.
Like all power cycles, trough power plants also need a cooling system to transfer waste heat
to the environment.
Parabolic trough power plant technologies include:

Direct steam generation

Fossil-fired (hybrid) backup
Operation and maintenance


o
o
o

Power cycles
Steam Rankine
Organic Rankine
Combined
Wet and dry cooling

Power Cycles
There are a number of different power cycles that can be used for parabolic trough power
plants. And there are a number of options for how to integrate solar energy into the power
cycle.
Steam Rankine Cycle
All of the SEGS (solar electric generating system) plants and most new projects are planning
to use steam Rankine power cycles. These power plants have power cycles very similar to
those used for many coal, nuclear, or natural gas-fired steam power plants.
The 80-MWe SEGS plants use a regenerative reheat steam turbine cycle that has a gross
steam cycle efficiency approaching 38% with high-pressure steam conditions of 100bar, and
370C. The power cycle uses a solar steam generator in place of the conventional boiler
fired by natural gas, coal, or waste heat from nuclear fission. Otherwise the power cycle is
very similar with the following components:

A surface condenser

Multiple low-pressure and high-pressure feedwater heaters

Deaerator

Wet cooling towers.

Solar energy is used to generate the high-pressure steam and also to reheat the steam. The
solar field (or thermal energy storage system) supplies the hot, heat transfer fluid (HTF) to
the power plant. The heat transfer fluid passes through a series of shell-in-tube heat
exchangers to generate the high-pressure steam that runs the Rankine steam turbine. The
cold heat transfer fluid is then returned to the solar field (or thermal energy storage
system).
Organic Rankine Cycle
The organic Rankine cycles (ORCs) use an organic fluidsuch as butane or pentane
instead of water, like a steam Rankine cycle.

Organic Rankine cycles are also typically much simpler in design. They are often used for
applications with a lower resource temperature, such as for geothermal power plants. Also,
many organic Rankine cycles operate at lower pressures, which reduces the capital cost of
components.
For small power plantsranging in size from 100 kWe to 10 MWethe organic Rankine cycle
has some advantages. One advantage is that many of the working fluids in organic Rankine
cycle systems can be condensed at or above atmospheric pressures. This eliminates the
need for maintaining a vacuum in the condenser.

Combined-Cycle Systems
It's possible to integrate solar steam into the Rankine bottoming cycle of a combined-cycle
parabolic trough power plant. This type of plant is called an integrated solar combined cycle
system (ISCCS).
A combined-cycle system uses solar heat for steam generation and gas turbine waste heat
for preheating/superheating the steam. It can approximately double steam turbine capacity.
However, when solar energy isn't available, the steam turbine must run at part load, which
reduces efficiency.
Adding thermal energy storage could help double the solar contribution. And the cost for
increasing steam turbine size for a combined-cycle power plant is substantially lower than
the cost of a stand-alone Rankine cycle power plant.
Several new projects using an integrated solar combined cycle system are under
development.

Fossil-Fired (Hybrid) Backup

Because parabolic trough power plants use conventional power cycle technologies, fossilfired boilers or heaters usually can be integrated to enable power plant operation at fullrated output during periods of low solar radiation, such as overcast days and at night.
Most existing parabolic trough power plants have hybrid backup capability. They can operate
using 100% solar input, 100% natural gas input, or any combination in between. Typically
the fossil backup efficiency is much lower than for a modern combined-cycle power plant. So
the fossil fuel is typically only used for backup during the utility's peak demand periods.
Although the SEGS (solar electric generating system) plants initially operated 25% of the
time on fossil fuel, currently they only produce a few percent of their annual output from
natural gas.

Direct Steam Generation

Another option under consideration for future parabolic trough plants is the possibility of
generating steam directly in the solar field. This eliminates the need for an intermediate
heat transfer fluid and steam-generation heat exchangers. It also should allow the solar field
to operate at higher temperatures, resulting in higher power cycle efficiencies and lower
fluid pumping parasitics.
Ceimat and DLR (German Aerospace Center) are currently testing direct steam generation
(DSG) at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria in Spain. They must address a number of
technical issues. But direct steam generation is still one of the most promising opportunities
for future cost reductions.

Wet and Dry Cooling

Historically, parabolic trough power plants have used wet cooling towers. But now they can
be designed to use dry cooling technology for reducing water consumption. Utilization of dry
cooling usually only requires a modest increase in electricity cost.

The SEGS (solar electric generating system) plants use approximately 800-1000 gallons of
water per MWh generated. With wet cooling, the cooling tower represents approximately
90% of a Rankine parabolic trough power plant's raw water consumption. The other 10% of
water consumption includes the steam cycle makeup cycle (8%) and mirror washing (2%).

Operation and Maintenance

The operation and maintenance (O&M) of a parabolic trough power plant is very similar to
conventional steam power plants that cycle on a daily basis.
Parabolic trough power plants typically require the same staffing and labor skills to operate
and maintain them 24-hours per day. However, they require additional O&M requirements to
maintain the solar fields.
Initial plants required a substantial number of mechanics, welders, and electricians to
maintain immature solar technology. Modern parabolic trough solar technology is much
more robust and requires minimal preventive or corrective maintenance. The one exception
is mirror washing.
Experience has shown that solar field mirrors must be washed frequently during the
summer. But the increase in solar output pays for the cost of labor and water. Current power
plants may wash mirrors weekly during the peak solar times of the year. It's usually only
necessary every few months during the winter.

FAQs
How much does a parabolic trough power plant cost?
The cost of a parabolic trough power plant depends on many factors such as plant size,
whether thermal energy storage is included, and whether the solar field has been enlarged
to increase the annual plant capacity factor. Based on these considerations the current
capital cost for large ~100-MWe-sized systems are on the order of $3-6/W for plants that
produce 25-50% annual capacity factors.