A Technical Seminar Report

On

SOLAR POWER TOWER

Submitted in the partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the degree

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
IN

ELECTRICAL
OF

GOVT. COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND

TECHNOLOGY

SUBMITTED BY LAKSHIT KHAJURIA

ROLL NO. GCET/162/14

SEMESTER 7TH
 SOLAR POWER TOWER
System Description
Solar power towers generate electric power from sunlight by focusing
concentrated solar radiation on a tower-mounted heat exchanger (receiver).
The system uses hundreds to thousands of sun-tracking mirrors called
heliostats to reflect the incident sunlight onto the receiver. These plants are
best suited for utility-scale applications in the 30 to 400 MW range. In a
molten-salt solar power tower, liquid salt at 290C (554F) is pumped from a
cold storage tank through the receiver where it is heated to 565C (1,049F)
and then on to a hot tank for storage. When power is needed from the plant,
hot salt is pumped to a steam generating system that produces superheated
steam for a conventional Rankinecycle turbine/generator system. From the
steam generator, the salt is returned to the cold tank where it is stored and
eventually reheated in the receiver. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the
primary flow paths in a molten-salt solar power plant. Determining the
optimum storage size to meet power-dispatch requirements is an important
part of the system design process. Storage tanks can be designed with
sufficient capacity to power a turbine at full output for up to 13 hours.
Solar One - The First Generation of Power Tower Plant

Solar One was the worlds largest power tower plant, which operated from 1982 to 1988.
The Solar One thermal storage system works by storing heat in the form of steam generated
using solar energy in a tank which is filled with rocks and sand and using oil as the heat-
transfer fluid.

The Solar One thermal storage system extended the power generation capability of the plant
into the night and provided heat for generating low-grade steam for keeping parts of the
plant warm during off-hours and for morning startup.

Unfortunately, the Solar One thermal storage system was complex and thermodynamically
inefficient. Solar One also showed the disadvantages of a water/steam system, such as the
intermittent operation of the turbine due to cloud transcience and lack of effective thermal
storage.

Solar Two - The Next Generation Solar Power Tower

The conversion of Solar One to Solar Two required a new molten-salt heat transfer system
and a new control system. This includes the receiver, thermal storage, piping, and a steam
generator. The Solar One heliostat field, the tower, and the turbine or generator required
only minimal modifications.

Advantages

A variety of fluids were tested to transport the sun's heat, including water, air, oil, and
sodium, before molten salt was selected as best. Molten salt is used in solar power tower
systems because it is liquid at atmosphere pressure, it provides an efficient, low-cost
medium in which to store thermal energy, its operating temperatures are compatible with
todays high-pressure and high-temperature steam turbines, and it is non-flammable and
nontoxic. In addition, molten salt is used in the chemical and metals industries as a heat-
transport fluid, so experience with molten-salt systems exists for non-solar applications.

Environmental Impacts

No hazardous gaseous or liquid emissions are released during operation of the solar power
tower plant If a salt spill occurs, the salt will freeze before significant contamination of the soil
occurs. Salt is picked up with a shovel and can be recycled if necessary. If the power tower
is hybridized with a conventional fossil plant, emissions will be released from the non-solar
portion of the plant.