New-Tech Europe Magazine | Aug 2018

Simplifying CSP Manufacturing By Improving Heliostat Design Corné Bekkers, TRINAMIC Motion Control

Various technologies are being used to generate durable and consistent sources of renewable energy, and some are more popular than others. One of the less popular methods is concentrated solar power (CSP), because setting up these systems requires a considerable investment in both money and time. Although this investment will eventually pay out, it can prevent companies, and entire countries, from building traditionally- designed CSP plants. Today, Spain and the U.S. are leaders in CSP deployments. Other countries, such as India and China, are also investing in these plants. But for some countries, such as Chile, Egypt, Peru and Nepal, the barriers to entry are still too high, due to lack of financial and manufacturing resources. In fact, countries with the highest solar energy potential tend to rank at the bottom when it comes to the generation of

solar power regardless of method. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy launched the AutoR (autonomous rim) drive heliostat project to make design and construction of the heliostat – the key element in CSP plants – simple and low-cost, so that these countries can build their own. The project developed a new autonomous heliostat design with a rim drive system, wireless communication, and its own energy supply. This system is lightweight, has improved performance, and can be manufactured for far less cost with easily accessible resources, such as welding tools, CNC machines, and 3D printers. This article will focus on the development of the rim drive system hardware. A cost-efficient design Compared to conventional photovoltaic (PV) solar power plants,

CSP plants provide a continuous, full- time supply of energy. Due to their configuration, CSP plants are also known as solar power tower plants. A field of computer-controlled mirrors, called heliostats, reflects the sun on a tall tower as it turns to track the sun's path across the sky. A central absorber in the tower converts the heat produced into electrical power via heat exchangers and turbines. CSP plants can thus serve as base load power plants, enabling a full-time energy supply. However, conventional heliostats account for about 40% of the plant's total cost, making it the most expensive part of a CSP. Moreover, it means that scaling up a CSP plant is also expensive, on top of the costs of setting up the plant itself. The AutoR project was carried out by three main organizations in Germany: the Hamburg University of Technology,

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