A comparative study between parabolic trough collector and linear Fresnel reflector technologies

The production of electricity from solar radiation is a direct process. Solar energy is not very dense, it is necessary to concentrate it to produce exploitable temperatures usable for the production of electricity. The radiation may concentrate on a point or on a line, where thermal energy is transferred to the heat transfer fluid. The intensity of concentration is defined by the concentration factor, the more this one is higher, the more reached temperature will be important. In this paper two optical technologies which showed promising results were compared, the first one is the Fresnel mirror and the second one is the parabolic trough. These two technologies are based on linear solar concentration. The main objective of this paper is to report the performance of these technologies by means of numerical analysis. A methodological analysis to design and evaluate the technical feasibility for the use of Fresnel mirror or parabolic trough in a Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) system has been carried out. The influence of ambient conditions and the percent of different types of energy loss, etc., are analyzed. An application on a site, in the south of Algeria (Hassi Rmel), is done. In this site, a project of hybrid natural gas/solar power plant with parabolic trough technology will be inaugurated before 2011. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of [name organizer]