THE RIGHT SOLAR FOR THE RIGHT PLACE

Technology and desert biomes: Location is everything; A solution tailored to specific desert conditions could enhance plant efficiency, and mitigate operations and maintenance costs of a CSP plant.
Rajeesh Chhabara, 20 May 2010 (CSP Today)

"Desert climates may drastically differ from region to region. For example, the United Nations classifies deserts as hyper arid, arid, semiarid and dry-sub humid. There are real deserts such as in the Middle East, India and Australia. Then there are the ‘desert-like’ areas, as in the southwest United States and Spain.

"Diverse meteorological stress conditions may exist in different regions or within the same regions. In the US, hot and humid in Miami (Florida) contrasts with hot and dry in Phoenix (Arizona). In California…warm and humid in Sacramento gives way to hot and dry in Dagget…[It is] hot and mild in Almeria (Spain) and hot and dry in Thar desert (India)…"

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"…Higher radiation level found in actual deserts could impact the plant design in terms of… the size of the storage and the size of the solar field…[but higher radiation] is not limited to actual deserts…Typical real deserts [also] lack naturally available cooling water. Operators then need to rely on dry cooling [which is more expensive because]…dry cooling towers rely on electrically driven ventilation systems…[and] is also relatively less efficient…[C]ompanies that deliver innovative technologies to reduce costs of cooling systems for dry deserts will be winners…

"Higher soiling of mirrors in a desert due to sand storms is another point of difference. More dust and sand means more frequent cleaning, and an additional effort in maintenance…[though the loss is usually offset by higher] radiation…"

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"…[D]iverse climatic stress conditions may offer innovative opportunities for component manufactures to tailor products…[N]iche manufacturers…[may emerge with] specific products or applications suited to the specific climatic condition…However, key players in the mirror and the receiver technology sectors have not yet made attempts to develop such niche products, or to differentiate their products based on climatic conditions…[Instead,] standardisation of mirrors and receiver tubes is currently taking place…

"[T]his situation may change over time…[but the issue of site-specific customisation is not on the industry agenda at present…Solar Millennium, which has CSP projects in various stages in diverse desert regions such as the Middle East, China, Spain, the US, India and North Africa, currently deploys the same equipment across all projects…[E]fforts are more directed toward improving the overall efficiency of products…[like] anti-soiling coatings and low-to-no water cleaning…"