This document summarizes a solar concentrator power plant. It explains that solar concentrator systems use mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight onto a small area to generate heat, which is then used to power steam turbines and generate electricity. The first concentrated solar power plant was built in Italy in 1968. Solar concentrators work by using Fresnel lenses to focus sunlight onto a central receiver. Future studies project that concentrated solar power could provide 25% of the world's energy needs by 2050 with increased investment. Tower designs aim to efficiently collect and store thermal energy to generate electricity even when the sun is not shining.

1. Solar Concentrator
Power Plant
Prepared by :
A2 Batch
(Mechanical Dept.)
B.H.G.C.E.T.-Rajkot

2. What is Solar Concentrator ?
• Concentrated solar power (also
called concentrating solar power,
concentrated solar thermal, and
CSP) systems generate solar power
by using mirrors or lenses to
concentrate a large area of sunlight,
or solar thermal energy, onto a small
area.
• Electricity is generated when the
concentrated light is converted to
heat, which drives a heat engine
(usually a steam turbine) connected
to an electrical power generator or
powers a thermochemical reaction.

3. History
• Professor Giovanni Francia (1911–1980) designed
and built the first concentrated-solar plant, which
entered into operation in Sant'Ilario, near Genoa,
Italy in 1968.
• This plant had the architecture of today's
concentrated-solar plants with a solar receiver in
the center of a field of solar collectors.
• The plant was able to produce 1 MW with
superheated steam at 100 bar and 500 °C.

4. How Do Solar Concentrators Work?
• A solar concentrator uses lenses, called Fresnel
lenses, which take a large area of sunlight and
direct it towards a specific.
• spot by bending the rays of light and focusing
them. Some people use the same principle when
they use a magnifying lens to
• focus the Sun's rays on a pile of kindling or paper
to start fires.

5. Fresnel Reflector :
•Fresnel reflectors are made of
many thin, flat mirror strips to
concentrate sunlight onto tubes
through which working fluid is
pumped.
•Flat mirrors allow more reflective
surface in the same amount of space
as a parabolic reflector, thus
capturing more of the available
sunlight, and they are much cheaper
than parabolic reflectors.
•Fresnel reflectors can be used in
various size CSPs.

6. Future
• A study done by Greenpeace International, the European Solar
Thermal Electricity Association, and the International Energy
Agency's SolarPACES group investigated the potential and
future of concentrated solar power.
• The study found that concentrated solar power could account
for up to 25% of the world's energy needs by 2050. The
increase in investment would be from 2 billion euros
worldwide to 92.5 billion euros in that time period.
• Spain is the leader in concentrated solar power technology,
with more than 50 government-approved projects in the works.
Also, it exports its technology, further increasing the
technology's stake in energy worldwide.

7. Design Of Tower
• Some Concentrating Solar Power Towers are air-cooled
instead of water-cooled, to avoid using limited desert water.
• Flat glass is used instead of the more expensive curved glass.
• Thermal storage to store the heat in molten salt containers to
continue producing electricity while the sun is not shining.
• Steam is heated to 500 °C to drive turbines that are coupled to
generators which produce electricity.
• Control systems to supervise and control all the plant activity
including the heliostat array positions, alarms, other data
acquisition and communication.
• Generally, installations use from 150 hectares (1,500,000 m2)
to 320 hectares (3,200,000 m2).

8. Thank You…!!
Behalf of
Whole Mechanical
Dept.
Queries….!!?