Photovoltaic (PV)
Photovoltaic materials and devices make use of semiconductors (the most popular being silicon) to convert sunlight directly into electricity.
Considering Technology Specific Criteria
Considering Technology Specific Criteria
Considering Technology Specific Criteria
Global Cumulative Installed PV Capacity
Considering Technology Specific Criteria
Considering Technology Specific Criteria
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP)
- Use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers.
- Receivers collect solar energy and convert it to heat via a working fluid.
- The Thermal Energy (high-temperature fluid) is used to spin a turbine or power an engine that drives a generator.
Dispatchable Technologies
- Parabolic trough
- Linear Fresnel
- Power Tower
By integrating thermal storage into the plant design, a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant can generate energy day and night, with or without clear skies.
Green Independent Viable Energy
Integrated solar combined-cycle (ISCC) in CSP
- Parabolic trough, linear Fresnel, and power tower systems can integrate thermal energy storage by storing hot HTF directly or indirectly heating a storage media.
- These technologies can also utilize natural gas to aid system startup and provide backup power. Both features serve to convert the intermittent solar energy into a reliable, dispatchable resource.
Turchi, C.S., Ma, Z., Erbes, M.: Gas Turbine/Solar Parabolic Trough Hybrid Designs; ASME Turbo Expo 2011, June 6th-10th, 2011, Vancouver, Canada.