Proposal of a solar thermal power plant at low temperature using solar thermal collectors

For the published article in the EPE journal: https://doi.org/10.4236/epe.2022.148019

Abstract:
To this day, only two types of solar power plants have been proposed and built: high temperature thermal solar one and photovoltaic one. It is here proposed a new type of solar thermal plant using glass-top flat surface solar collectors, so working at low temperature (i.e. below 100 °C). This power plant is aimed for warm countries, i.e. the ones mainly located between -40° and 40° of latitude, having available space along their coast. This land based plant, to install on the seashore, is technologically similar to the one used for OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion). This plant, apart to supply electricity with a much better thermodynamic efficiency than OTEC plants, has the main advantage to provide desalinated water for drinking and irrigation. This plant is designed to generate electricity (and desalinated water) night and day and all year round, thanks to a hot water storage, with just a variation of the power delivered depending on the season.