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Solar Power Plant Technology Design Methodology and Review

J.K. Narwal, S. Kumar

Abstract


Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaics convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect. The International Energy Agency projected in 2014 that under its "high renewables" scenario, by 2050, solar photovoltaics and concentrated solar power would contribute about 16 and 11 percent, respectively, of the worldwide electricity consumption, and solar would be the world's largest source of electricity. Most solar installations would be in China and India. This paper focuses on the latest developments and advances in solar thermal applications, providing a review of solar collectors and thermal energy storage systems. Various types of solar collectors are reviewed and discussed. Our results show there is ample potential globally for both technologies even accounting for land use restrictions, but stronger support for research and development and higher investments are needed to make CSP and PV cost-competitive with established power technologies by 2050.

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.37628/ijssm.v3i2.41

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