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Receiver for Concentrated Solar Power Plants “powered by SCHOTT“
SCHOTT Receivers as Key Components


Since the mid-eighties, nine solar thermal parabolic trough power plants in the Californian desert have been generating solar power with a total output of 354 megawatts (MW). The power plants produce between 14 and 80 MW of power, providing between 10,000 and 56,000 people with energy.

A parabolic trough power plant consists of three key components: mirrors, receivers and turbine technology. SCHOTT has already provided high-quality special glass tubing as envelopes for the receivers at the Californian power plants. And in 2004, SCHOTT launched a new receiver of significantly higher quality, which we had developed ourselves. This new receiver has advanced SCHOTT to the position of technological leader for this key component and has been supplied to Nevada Solar One and to the first parabolic trough power plants in Europe.

How a Parabolic Trough Power Plant Works

Hundreds of trough-shaped parabolic mirrors, which are continuously adjusted to face the sun, serve as collectors. They concentrate the sun’s rays on receivers located along the focal line. A SCHOTT receiver consists of a specially coated absorber tube embedded in an evacuated glass envelope. The absorbed solar radiation warms up the heat transfer fluid flowing through the absorber tube to almost 400°C (752°F). This is conducted along a heat exchanger in which steam is produced, which then generates power in the turbines. The output of the power plant is between 25 and 200 MW of electricity at its peak. And thanks to storage systems, plant operation can be maintained at a constant load. With the highest degree of performance and the lowest electricity production costs of all the different types of solar power plants, the outlook for parabolic trough power plants is excellent.
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Roseville, CA 95661
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