Within the MSA-Trough project, a fix-focus parabolic trough is developed by an international consortium of 7 partners. The novelty of the new collector is the complete independence (detachment) between the concentrator and the fixed absorber tube so that the absorber tube string is not moved by the concentrator and can be designed in a continuous line up to a length of more than 0,8 km.
Due to the new design not only the collector connection piping become obsolete but also all flexible connections in the solar field are omitted, leading to a significant reduction in investment costs as well as in pressure drop and heat losses. Because of its horizontal “storm-position” wind loads are reduced by 75%, thus steel structure, pylons and foundations can be designed very light and cost-saving. In addition, biodegradable and very stable thin-glass sandwich mirrors will be developed, which increase the optical efficiency by 2% due to better reflectivity. A further important project highlight is the development of an automatic mirror washing device, which will recycle about 90% of washing water and increase the solar field performance by 4% because of daily washing. The new MSA-Trough design will be especially suitable for dispatchable power generation at very high temperature (555°C) using directly molten salt as heat transfer fluid and storage medium, thus reaching a very high cycle efficiency and an excellent volumetric storage capacity. A 350m-collector (aperture 6,7m) will be erected and tested with molten salt at the EMSP. Optical, mechanical, and thermal tests will be carried out in order to verify the collector quality and efficiency. In order to eliminate heat losses during the night the “overnight drainage strategy” will be tested and optimized. Compared to current parabolic trough power plants the use of MSA-Trough collectors will increase the annual electrical output by 24,5% and reduce the solar field costs by 30%.
