Concentrating solar power with glasshouses

Abstract

A protective transparent enclosure (such as a glasshouse or a greenhouse) encloses a concentrated solar power system. The concentrated solar power system includes one or more solar concentrators and one or more solar receivers. Thermal power is provided to an industrial process, electrical power is provided to an electrical distribution grid, or both. In some embodiments, the solar concentrators are parabolic trough concentrators with one or more lateral extensions. In some embodiments, the lateral extension is a unilateral extension of the primary parabolic trough shape. In some embodiments, the lateral extensions are movably connected to the primary portion. In some embodiments, the lateral extensions have a focal line separate from the focal line of the base portion. In some embodiments, the greenhouse is a Dutch Venlo style greenhouse.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]Priority benefit claims for this application are made in the accompanying Application Data Sheet, Request, or Transmittal (as appropriate, if any). To the extent permitted by the type of the instant application, this application incorporates by reference for all purposes the following applications, all commonly owned with the instant application at the time the invention was made:[0002]U.S. Provisional Application (Docket No. 310618-2001 and Ser. No. 61 / 149,292), filed Feb. 2, 2009, first named inventor Rod MacGregor, and entitled Concentrating Solar Power with Glasshouses;[0003]U.S. Provisional Application (Docket No. CLEN-002 / 00US 310618-2002 and Ser. No. 61 / 176,041), filed May 6, 2009, first named inventor Peter Von Behrens, and entitled Concentrating PhotoVoltaics with Glasshouses;[0004]PCT Application (Docket No. GP-09-01PCT and Serial No. PCT / US10 / 22780), filed Feb. 1, 2010, first named inventor Roderick MacGregor, and entitled Conc...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Reflectivity of a concentrator is sensitive to damage, tarnishing, and dirt buildup since only directly reflected sunlight, not scattered sunlight, is effectively focused.

Glass is relatively fragile and vulnerable to hail and other forms of damage unless it is suitably thick, e.g. 4-5 mm for relatively larger mirrors.

The protection from winds adds an additional 10,000 lbs of load beyond the 10001b weight of the minor, resulting in complex construction requiring roughly 20 kg of structural steel for every square meter of mirror area in a dish system.

Avoiding shading is important because the trough mirror is relatively expensive and so having any mirror shaded (and unproductive) is costly.

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