ABSTRACT
Solar energy has a high exergetic value since it originates from processes occurring at the sun's surface at a blackbody equivalent temperature of approximately 5777 K. The optimum solar thermal power (STP) system design combines a relatively large, efficient optical surface, harvesting the incoming solar radiation and concentrating it onto a solar receiver with a small aperture area. The solar receiver is a high-absorptance and high-transmittance, low-reflectance, radiative/convective heat exchanger that emulates as closely as possible the performance of a radiative blackbody. The use of heat storage systems and fossil backup makes STP systems highly flexible for integration with conventional power plant design and operation and for blending the thermal output with fossil fuel, biomass, and geothermal resources. With current investment costs, all current STP technologies generally thought to require a public financial support strategy for market deployment.
