Advances in Concentrating Solar Thermal Research and Technology

Prof. Manuel Blanco has more than 30 years of experience as a solar researcher and engineer and has contributed to advancing the state-of the-art of Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST) technologies. He is an expert on Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, Optics, and Modelling of Energy Systems. He is a Full Professor and holder of the European Research Area (ERA) Chair in Solar Thermal Energy of the Cyprus Institute’s Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC). He is also the Chair of the Executive Committee of SolarPACES, the Technology Collaboration Program of the International Energy Agency responsible for promoting the development and deployment of solar thermal power technologies and the solar-assisted manufacturing of fuels and chemicals. Until August, 2016, he has been Science Leader of the Solar Energy Systems Research Group of CSIRO -Australia’s National Research Agency, as well as the Director of the Australian Solar Thermal Research Initiative (ASTRI). He is the former Director of the Solar Thermal Energy Department of the National Renewable Energy Centre of Spain (CENER), Chair and Full Professor of the Engineering Department of the University of Texas at Brownsville, and Director of the Plataforma Solar de Almería of CIEMAT, which is the largest European solar research infrastructure.

"This is a very interesting book for those who have an interest in renewable technologies but may not be very familiar with concentrated solar thermal methods for generating energy…For those engineers and solar thermal researchers working on CST systems, this well-written and informative book is well worth reading." --IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine

• Part I: Introduction1. Introduction to concentrating solar thermal (CST) technologiesManuel J. Blanco, Sarah MillerPart II: Advances in the collection and concentration of sunlight2. Advanced mirror concepts for concentrating solar thermal systemsArantxa Fernandez Garcia, Florian Sutter, Lucía Martínez-Arcos, Loreto Valenzuela, Chris Sansom3. Improved field design for Linear Fresnel reflector systemsManuel Collares Pereira Sr., Diogo Canavarro, Júlio ChavesPart III: Advances in the thermal conversion of concentrated sunlight4. A new generation of absorber tubes for concentrating solar thermal (CST) systemsAngel Morales, Gema San Vicente 5. Innovative working fluids for parabolic trough collectorsEduardo Zarza Moya6. A new generation of solid-particle and other high performance receiver designs for concentrating solar thermal (CST) central tower systemsCliff Ho7. Next generation of liquid metal and other high performance receiver designs for concentrating solar thermal (CST) central tower systemsManuel Romero, Jose Gonzalez-AguilarPart IV: Advances in the power block and thermal storage systems8. Supercritical CO2 and otheradvanced cycles for concentrating solar thermal (CST) systemsSaeb Besarati, Yogi Goswami, Barbara Graham9. Advances in dry cooling for concentrating solar thermal (CST) plantsKamel Hooman, Zhiqiang Guan, Hal Gurgenci10. High temperature latent heat storage for concentrating solar thermal (CST) systemsJoseph Stekli, Ranga Pitchumani, Karthik Nithyanandam 11. Thermochemical energy storage for concentrating solar thermal (CST) systemsJoseph Stekli, Ranga Pitchumani12. Three-step storage for direct steam generation (DSG) solar plantsLoreto Valenzuela Part V: Advances in the control an operation of CPS plants 13. Forecasting and nowcasting of DNI for concentrating solar thermal (CST) systemsLourdes Ramirez, Jose Maria Vindel14. Advance control strategies to maximize ROI and the value of the concentrating solar thermal (CST) plant to the gridEduardo F. Camacho, Antonio J. Gallego Len Sr. Part VI: Cost competitive CST plants concepts15. Linear Fresnel reflector (LFR) plants using superheated steam and other alternative working fluids Manuel Collares Pereira Sr., Diogo Canavarro, Júlio Chaves16. Central tower systems using the Brayton cycleReiner Buck, Ralf Uhlig, Stefano Giuliano17. Central tower systems using supercritical CO2 and supercritical steam cycles and decoupled combined cyclesManuel Silva-Perez18. Concentrating solar thermal (CST) applications other than electricity production (e.g. solar chemistry)Wojciech Lipinski, Roman Bader