Linear Fresnel Collector Demonstration at the PSA - Operation and Investigation

Abstract

Linear Fresnel collectors have the potential to reduce levelized costs of electricity (LCOE) of solar thermal power and thus accelerate the market penetration of solar thermal power plants. It is expected that linear Fresnel collectors will be cheaper than conventional parabolic trough collectors, however the efficiency of this new collector concept will be lower than that of parabolic troughs. Reliable information is not yet available to determine whether the reduced investment cost, in combination with the reduced efficiency, causes a final reduction of the LCOE. Within the German Fresdemo project, a first prototype with a length of 100 m and a width of 21 m was built at the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA) in Spain. The steel structure of the prototype supports a fixed central absorber tube located in the centre of a secondary reflector which is centred above 25 rows of slightly curved primary mirrors. The construction and the commissioning of the demonstration collector have been reported. This paper presents operational experience with the demonstration collector and the determined collector performance.