How a Parabolic Trough Power Plant Works

Hundreds of trough-shaped parabolic mirrors, which are continuously adjusted to face the sun, serve as collectors. They concentrate the sun’s rays on receivers located along the focal line. A SCHOTT receiver consists of a specially coated absorber tube embedded in an evacuated glass envelope. The absorbed solar radiation warms up the heat transfer fluid flowing through the absorber tube to almost 400 C (752 F). This is conducted along a heat exchanger in which steam is produced, which then generates power in the turbines. The output of the power plant is between 25 and 200 MW of electricity at its peak. And thanks to storage systems, plant operation can be maintained at a constant load. With the highest degree of performance and the lowest electricity production costs of all the different types of solar power plants, the outlook for parabolic trough power plants is excellent.