Thermal energy from concentrating solar thermal technologies (CST) may contribute to decarbonizing applications from heating and cooling, desalination, and power generation.
CST for Heat Generation
As per the MNRE-GEF-UNIDO Report , the industrial market potential of CST technologies in India is around 6.45 GWth. Industrial sectors in India with reportedly good potential for CST implementation include dairy, food processing, paper and pulp, chemicals, textiles, fertilizer, breweries, pharmaceuticals, rubber, electroplating, and desalination.
CST systems use a solar field of mirrors, or other reflective surfaces to concentrate sunlight onto a receiver, which captures the heat and stores it in a thermal energy storage (TES) medium (such as oil, molten salt, or phase change material), which can be used to directly decarbonize industrial processes (solar industrial heat).
Types of Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) Technologies:
- Low-Temperature Solar Thermal Systems: Flat Plate Collectors (FPC), Evacuated Tube Collectors (ETC), and Evacuated Tube integrated with Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC)
- Medium Temperature Solar Thermal Systems: Parabolic Dish, Parabolic Trough Concentrator, Linear Fresnel reflectors
- High Temperature Solar Thermal Systems (heat and electricity generation): Dual-axis tracked Fresnel Reflector, Paraboloid-based dishes, Central tower receiver.
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
Concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies use solar thermal energy from sunlight to generate heat which is stored in thermal energy storage (TES) until needed to generate steam to power a turbine for producing electricity. Thermal energy storage makes concentrated solar power a flexible and dispatchable form of energy.
Types of Concentrated Solar Power Technologies:
- Parabolic Dish Systems
- Parabolic Trough Systems
- Linear Fresnel Systems
- Solar Power Tower
Standards – Concentrated Solar thermal
- IS 16648: Part 1 (2017) – Concentrated Solar Thermal – Specification Part 1 Paraboloid Dish Concentrator
- IS 16648: Part 2 (2017) – Concentrated Solar Thermal – Specification Part 2 Scheffler Concentrator
- IS 16648: Part 3 (2017) – Concentrated Solar Thermal – Specification Part 3 Parabolic Trough Concentrator
- IS 16648: Part 4 (2018) – Concentrated Solar Thermal – Specification Part 4 Non-Imaging Concentrator
- IS 16648: Part 5 (2017) – Concentrated Solar Thermal – Specification Part 5 Test Methods
[Download from the BIS portal after registering: https://standardsbis.bsbedge.com/BIS_SearchStandard.aspx?keyword=Concentrated%20Solar%20thermal&id=0]