A Seminar Presentation on

Solar Power Towers

Submitted To: Submitted By:

Vishal Bhatia sir Rajesh Choudhary
(15EAIME084)

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 OUTLINES

• Introduction
• Overview on SPT
• History
• System Description
• Rankine cycle
• Advantages
• Applications
• Future aspects

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 INTRODUCTION
• Solar power towers generate electric power from sun
light by focusing concentrated solar radiation on a tower
mounted heat exchanger(receiver).
• It uses an array of flat, movable mirrors(heliostats) to
focus the sun’s rays upon a collector tower.
• The energy at this point of concentrated sun light is
transferred to a substance that can store the heat for
later used.
• The more recent heat transfer material that has been
successfully demonstrated is liquid sodium.
• Sodium is a metal with a high heat capacity, allowing
that energy to be stored and drawn of throughout the
evening. 3
 OVERVIEW
• The largest power tower ever built are the 30
MW(solar one and solar two plants).Assuming
success of the solar two project, the next plants
could be scaled up to between 30 to 400 MW.
• As non-polluting energy sources become more
favoured, molten salt power tower will have a high
value because the thermal energy storage allows the
plant to be dispatchable.
• The value of power in worth because a power tower
plant can deliver energy during pick load times when
it is more valuable.

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 HISTORY

• Solar technology is not new process. Its history

spans from the 7th century B.C. to today.
• Solar one, which operated from 1962 to 1988,
was the world’s largest power tower plant. It
proved that large-scale power production with
power tower was feasible.
• During the operation of solar one, research began
on the more advanced molten-salt power tower
design described.
• Solar two is expected to begin routine daily
power production in late 1997.

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 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
• Solar power tower convert sunshine into clean electricity.
The technology uses many large, sun-tracking mirrors
commonly referred as heliostats focus sunlight on a
receiver at the top of a tower.
• The enormous amount of energy, coming out of the sun
rays, concentration at one point (the tower in the middle),
produces temperatures of approach 550oC to 1500oC.
• The gained thermal energy can be used for heating water
or molten salt, which saves the energy for later use. Heated
water convert to steam, which used to move the turbine-
generator. This way thermal energy is converted into
electricity. 6
Fig.:- Layout of SPT 7
 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
• As already mentioned there are two main fluids which are
used for the heat transfer , water and molten salt.
• If water is used as heat transfer fluid then it is first generation
of solar power tower plant(solar one).
• If molten Salt is used as heat transfer fluid then it is next
generation of solar power tower plant(solar two).
• HELIOSTAT
• Heliostat is termed Greek word
• Helios-sun, stat-stationary
• A Heliostat is a device that tracks the movement of the sun.
• The reflected sunlight from the heliostats can generate an
enormous amount of heat if all are 8
Fig:- Solar Power Tower
 CENTRAL RECEIVER
• Central receiver system use a field of distributed
mirrors that individually track the sun and focus the
sunlight on the top of the tower. By concentrating the
sunlight 600-1000times, they achieve temperature
from 800 to 1000c.
• The central receiver is also called high heat exchanger
which sits a top of tower. The central receiver heats
molten salt at around 250c,pumped from a cold
storage tank to 565c,where it flows to a hot tank for
storage
• When the grid load dispatcher decides electricity is
needed from the plant ,hot salt is pumped to a steam
generating system that produces superheated steam
for turbine. 10
 RANKINE CYCLE

• A Rankine cycle describes a model of the operation

of steam heat engines most commonly found in
power generation plants. Common heat sources for
power plants using the Rankine cycle are liquid salts,
natural gas, oil etc.
• The working fluid in a Rankine cycle follows a closed
loop and is re-used constantly.

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Fig:- Rankine Cycle 12
 ADVANTAGES
• Solar power is also one of the cleanest forms of
energy, since it creates no pollution, and produces no
greenhouse gases or waste products.
• Solar Power is safer alternative to wind & hydro
power.
• No hazardous gaseous or liquid emissions are
released during operation of the solar power tower
plant.
• Maintenance costs are low as well – only occasional
cleaning and periodic battery replacements are
needed.

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 APPLICATION
• In order to supply Electricity for street lights, solar
power tower technologies are use.
• Solar Power can be used as Alternative for Wind &
Hydro power.
• These plants are best suited for utility-scale
applications in the 30 to 400 MW range.
• Provides rough enough Electricity for night use &
during Cloudy weather.

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 FUTURE ASPECTS OF SOLAR POWER TOWERS
• Generation of solar energy has tremendous scope in
India. The geographical location of the country stands
to its benefit for generating solar energy. The reason
being India is a tropical country and it receives solar
radiation almost throughout the year, which amounts
to 3,000 hours of sunshine.
• This is equal to more than 5,000 trillion kWh. Almost,
all parts of India receive 4-7 kWh of solar radiation
per sq metres. This is equivalent to 2,300–3,200
sunshine hours per year.
• States like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana.
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