Solar Thermal Electricity Plants

Solar Thermal Electricity (STE) plants have many links with physics. The solar concentrators, the power block, the antireflective and selective coatings used to increase the thermal efficiency of solar receivers, are just a few examples of STE plant components based on physical principles or laws. The typical STE plant is a power plant using concentrated solar radiation to produce electricity. At present, there are four different technologies for STE plants, termed ‘Parabolic‐trough collectors’, ‘Central receiver systems’, ‘Compact linear Fresnel concentrators’, and ‘Stirling dishes’. The main difference amongst these four technologies is the way in which they concentrate the direct solar radiation. Optics, together with heat transfer mechanisms, is probably the field of physics with a more outstanding presence in the STE plants. The solar concentrators used commercially nowadays in STE plants concentrate the primary solar radiation by means of reflection.