Comparison of Advanced Thermal and Electrical Storage for Parabolic Dish Solar Thermal Power Systems

ABSTRACT:
Optional arrangements for generating electrical power from solar thermal parabolic dish systems are compared. An option which employs a cluster of two-axis tracking parabolic dish collectors to supply solar- derived heat to a ground-based thermal storage/power conversion unit is assessed.

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Each multi-dish cluster is a power module, and a large power system can be composed of a multiplicity of such modules. The use of advanced Stirling and Brayton engines is investigated. An important finding is that promising multi-dish clusters employing advanced sensible and latent heat thermal storage attain energy costs comparable to those of dish battery systems over a wide range of dish cluster sizes. This has major implementation advantages in allowing the selection of cluster sizes and associated engines that are tailored to application system requirements and, in particular, permitting the use of a wide range of engines that are being developed for other applications.

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