The most advanced thermal energy storage for solar thermal power plants is a two-tank storage system where the heat transfer fluid (HTF) also serves as storage medium. This concept was successfully demonstrated in a commercial trough plant (13.8 MWe SEGS I plant; 120 MWht storage capacity) and a...

Parabolic trough solar technology has been proven at nine commercial Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS) power plants that are operating in the California Mojave desert. These plants utilize steam Rankine cycle power plants, and as a result, most people associate parabolic trough solar...