Solar thermal power plant
A solar thermoelectric power plant or solar thermal power plant is an industrial installation in which, from the heating of a fluid by means of solar radiation and its use in a conventional thermodynamic cycle, the necessary power is produced to move an alternator for the generation of electrical energy as in a classic thermoelectric plant.
Operation of solar thermal power plants on earth
It consists of the thermal use of solar energy to transfer it and store it in a heat-carrying medium, generally water. This is one of the advantages of CASPA technology, thermal storage. The most commonly used technology to store this energy is molten salts (nitrates) for thermal storage. The composition of these salts is variable, the most used being the mixture of potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, and lately calcium nitrate has been incorporated.
Instructively, it is necessary to concentrate solar radiation so that high temperatures can be reached, from 300 °C to 1000 °C, and thus obtain an acceptable performance in the thermodynamic cycle, which could not be obtained with lower temperatures. The capture and concentration of solar rays are done by means of mirrors with automatic orientation that point to a central tower where the fluid is heated, or with smaller mechanisms of parabolic geometry. The set of the reflecting surface and its orientation device is called a heliostat.
The fluids and thermodynamic cycles chosen in the experimental configurations that have been tested, as well as the motors that they imply, are varied, ranging from the Rankine cycle (nuclear power plants, coal-fired power plants) to the Brayton cycle (gas power plants). natural) going through many other varieties such as the Distinguir engine, the most used being those that combine solar thermal energy with natural gas. Although water is generally used as a fluid in the thermodynamic cycle, there are currently under development supercritical carbon dioxide mixtures that could provide higher performance.
Installed power in the world
The table below shows the detail of installed capacity by country at the end of 2021. Spain is currently the world leader in this technology:
| Country or Region | Total 2005 | Total 2006 | Total 2007 | Total 2008 | Total 2009 | Total 2010 | Total 2011 | Total 2012 | Total 2013 | Total 2014 | Total 2015 | Total 2016 | Total 2017 | Total 2018 | Total 2019 | Total 2020 | Total 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global total | 354 | 355 | 449 | 484 | 663 | 969 | 1598 | 2553 | 3425 | 4335 | 4705 | 4815 | 4915 | 5465 | 6451 | 6690 | 6800 |
 European Union | 0 | 0 | 11 | 62 | 384 | 638 | 1108 | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. |
 Spain
| 0 | 0 | 11 | 61 | 382 | 632 | 1102 | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | 2300 | 2300 | 2300 | 2300 | 2300 |
 United States
| 354 | 355 | 427 | 432 | 512 | 517 | 517 | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | 1738 | 1738 | |||
 China
| s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | 23 | 238 | 438 | 538 | 538 |
 South Africa
| s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | 300 | 400 | |||
 Morocco
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 20 | s.d. | s.d. | 160 | s.d. | s.d. | 180 | 380 | |||
 India
| s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | 225 | 225 | |||
 United Arab Emirates
| s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | 100 | 100 | |||
 Saudi Arabia
| s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | 50 | |||
 Algeria
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | 25 | 25 | |||
 Egypt
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | |||
 Iran
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 17 | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | |||
.svg){kind=small} Australia
| s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | 12 | 12 | |||
 Thailand
| s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | 5 | 5 | |||
 Italy
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.7 | 4.7 | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | |||
 Germany
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. | s.d. |