-- This project is inactive --
The Solar Millennium Group and its subsidiary Flagsol, under the CSP R&D FOA, are completing work on an advanced parabolic trough collector that uses molten salt as a heat transfer fluid.
Approach
Solar Millennium has developed a preliminary design of an advanced geometry parabolic trough collector, designated NTPro. This follows the Flagsol SKAL-ET collector that was prototype-tested at the FPLE SEGS V plant at Kramer Junction, California, in 2002. The collector was selected for the Andasol 1 and 2 plants in Spain, the Kuraymat plant in Egypt, and early Solar Millennium commercial projects in the United States. The NTPro design has three primary goals: higher performance, lower cost, and the potential to operate with a molten salt heat transfer fluid (HTF). Solar Millennium and Flagsol intend to:
- Complete the final design of selected components of the NTPro collector
- Construct and test a prototype NTPro-VP1 (oil HTF) collector loop at the SEGS V plant at Kramer Junction, working with FPLE
- Develop design modifications to the NTPro collector to enable operation with molten salt
- Modify the prototype NTPro collector loop to accommodate salt HTF
- Implement a prototype loop test of the NTPro-MS (molten salt HTF) collector.
Solar Millennium's Flagsol SKAL-ET heliotrough underwent prototype testing in a 1-MW loop at the SEGS plant in Kramer Junction, California.
Innovation
Solar Millennium is the only awardee in the CSP portfolio currently exploring torque tube collector frames. The design employs counterweights, a large aperture (~6.7m), and fewer drives/foundations. It is being designed to operate with molten salt as the HTF. At the end of this project, Solar Millennium/Flagsol intends to have developed a large-aperture trough with increased efficiency and reduced LCOE for molten salt integration.
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