> Solar thermal electricity

Solar thermal electricity has been successfully demonstrated on a large scale in California over the last 20 years. Essentially, this technology uses conventional steam turbines, but substitutes a solar boiler for a conventionally fuelled one. It is much cheaper than other direct solar methods of electricity generation such as photovoltaics, and has an exciting potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation.

The Solar Energy Group has been highly active and prominent in developing direct solar energy collection concepts and technology since 1975. It has licensed for commercialisation world leading technology in the areas of solar selective absorber coatings, evacuated tube design, optical solar collector design and thermal solar collector design. For large-scale solar electricity generation, cost reductions are still needed to compete with low cost traditional electricity in developed nations. This overlying concern is an integral element of the work undertaken in Applied and Plasma Physics. Other work is underway in the areas of solar thermal power plants (heat transfer and optics), solar water heating using advanced flat plate collectors, evacuated tube collectors for water and process heating, and radiative cooling. These areas are outlined via the links below.

> Sputtered solar absorbing coatings

> Compact linear Fresnel reflector (CLFR) technology

> Multi tower solar array (MTSA) technology

> Advanced design of domestic hot water heating

> Evacuated tubular collectors - medium temperature process steam

> Experimental facilities in the Solar Energy Group