A Concentrated Solar Power Unit Collector’s Efficiency under Varied Wind Speeds

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) harnesses the sun?s solar energy to produce electricity. This report provides a technical analysis of the potential for CSP to provide low cost renewable electricity in Bhopal (M.P.) and outlines the impact of varied wind speeds on its collector?s efficiency. Yields of CSP Plants depend strongly on site-specific meteorological conditions. Meteorological parameters that can influence the performance of CSP plant are Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI), wind, ambient air temperature and humidity. The concentrated solar thermal power system constructed for this system follows that of conventional design of a parabolic concentrator with the receiver placed along the line between the centre of the concentrator and the sun. The concentrator receives approximately 1124.82W/m2 of solar insolation (dependent upon time of year), which is concentrated and reflected to the receiver. By concentrating the incoming radiation, the operating temperature of the system is increased significantly, and subsequently increases the efficiency of the conversion from sunlight to electricity. For the current system, with a concentration ratio of 495, the concentrator is theoretically capable of producing temperature upwards to 712 degrees centigrade. It was found that the collector (concentrator + receiver) yields an efficiency of 95.6 percent. This study investigates the potential for our intervention to accelerate the deployment of small-scale concentrated