Concentrating Solar Power : Csp

The Technology: Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) The Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Parabolic Trough technology is an emerging technology with an established commercial track record of more than twenty years operating under real life conditions. Its potentials cannot be disregarded (Taggart 2008). CSP stills holds much promise for countries with high solar incidence (plenty of sunshine). Its electrical output matches the changing daily need for electricity in places where air-conditioning systems are spreading. When backed up by thermal storage facilities and combustible fuel, it offers utilities electricity that can be dispatched when required, enabling it to be used for base, shoulder and peak loads. Within the next twenty years, it will be able to compete with fossil fuel plants that emit high levels of carbon dioxide. Sunny regions, such as MENA, may be able to export surplus solar electricity to neighboring regions, such as Europe, where demand for electricity from renewable sources is strong. In the medium to longer term, concentrating solar facilities can also produce hydrogen, which can be blended with natural gas, and provide low-carbon liquid fuels for transport and other end-use sectors.

How it Works Concentrating solar power uses mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays to heat a fluid and produce steam. The steam then drives a turbine and generates power in the same way as conventional power plants. At night, or if the sun is blocked by clouds, heat storage allows the power plant to keep operating under full capacity can be maintained for about ten hours. CSP technology is able to generate large-scale electricity, with or without the sun shining (Greenpeace 2010). A number of international and national project developments for solar troughs power plants are currently being pursued in different parts of the world.. The European Union already initiated plans to generate 22% of its energy from renewable sources thus making a technology such