ABSTRACT
Parabolic trough solar technology is the lowest cost large-scale solar power technology available today, primarily because of the development and experience associated with the nine large commercial-scale solar power plants that are operating in the California Mojave Desert. These plants, developed by LUZ International Limited and referred to as Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS), range in size from 14-80 MW and represent 354 MW of installed electric generating capacity. More than 2,000,000 m2 of parabolic trough collector technology has been operating daily for up to 20 years at these plants, which as the year 2004 ended, had accumulated 154 years of operational experience. The SEGS parabolic trough collector technology has demonstrated 156its ability to operate in a commercial power plant environment like no other solar technology in the world. Although no new plants have been built since 1990, technology development has been active and several new 50 MWe parabolic trough projects are under development, with expected initiation of construction in 2005-2006 and plant start-ups in 2006-2007. Over the last 14 years significant advancements in collector and plant design have been made possible by the efforts of the SEGS plants operators, the parabolic trough industry, and solar research laboratories around the world. This chapter reviews the current state-of-the-art of parabolic trough solar power technology and describes the R&D efforts that are in progress to enhance this technology. The chapter also shows how the economics of future parabolic trough solar power plants are expected to improve.
