TWO APPROACHES TO CONCENTRATING SOLAR POWER
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FIGURE 10.6 In a tower-based concentrating solar power station, hundreds of mirrors focus sunlight on a tower, where a liquid is heated sufficiently to produce the steam needed to drive the turbine of an electrical generator. In contrast, a parabolic trough system concentrates sunlight on a liquid flowing through a tube running the length of the trough; the heated liquid is used to generate steam, which drives a turbine.
(Gilles Mingasson/Getty Images for Bechtel) (Warren Gretz/NREL)