Design and implementation of solar dish Stirling system for smart grid power generation

In this chapter, the design criteria and experimental implementation of the Tianjin solar dish-Stirling system (TJ-SDSS), which is built at a facility test site in Tianjin, China, were described as well. A new commercial SDSS with a rated power of 25kW was effectively designed and experimentally established. A dish concentrator with a 105m2 effective aperture area (diameter is 12.5m and focal length is 7.65m), which contains 144 small curved silver-plated glass mirror facets plus single pillar supporting, has been designed and built. The modular technical selection, technical requirements, structure design and installation of the dish concentrator and power conversion unit for the TJ-SDSS are also explained. More so, the implementation steps for the dish concentrator system are analyzed. The system site is characterized by a northeastern China climate. The tests carried out on this system are particularly motivating because there are few demonstrative dish-Stirling systems established in China's Jing-Jin-Ji Metropolitan region, as there is no evidence of the influences of the particular weather of this region on the feasibility and performance operation of this kind of CSP technology. An analysis of the performances of the investigated SDSS is performed. In addition, a techno-economic viability for assessing the electricity cost and life cycle cost of the SDSS is also performed. It can be concluded that the maximum output power for the SDSS is found to be 23.45kW with solar to electricity efficiency of 23.5% and levelized energy cost of 0.267 $/kWh, respectively.