Primer on Solar Energy

Concentrated solar power system

How does concentrated solar power (CSP) work?

Concentrated solar thermal systems produce heat from sunlight. Electric power is typically produced by generating steam and turning turbines, as in conventional fossil fuel power plants. Concentrating systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus the sunlight hitting a large area onto a small area where it is absorbed.

A broad range of concentrating technologies exist that vary in the way they track the Sun and focus light. Among the most common approaches is a parabolic trough, which consists of a linear parabolic reflector that concentrates light onto a tube positioned along the reflector's focal line that is filled with a working fluid. The reflector tracks the Sun during the day along a single axis. A working fluid such as molten salt is heated to several hundred degrees Celsius as it flows through the tube and is then used as a heat source for a power generation system.

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