Solar trough systems

Trough systems predominate among today`s commercial solar power plants. All together, nine trough power plants, also called Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS), were built in the 1980s in the Mojave Desert near Barstow, California. These plants have a combined capacity of 354 megawatts (MW) and today generate enough electricity to meet the needs of approximately 500,000 people. Trough systems convert the heat from the sun into electricity. Because of their parabolical shape, troughs can focus the sun at 30--60 times its normal intensity on a receiver pipe located along the focal line of the trough. Synthetic oil captures this heat as the oil circulates through the pipe, reaching temperatures as high as 390 C (735 F). The hot oil is pumped to a generating station and routed through a heat exchanger to produce steam. Finally, electricity is produced in a conventional steam turbine. In addition to operating on solar energy the SEGS plants are configured as hybrids to operate on natural gas on cloudy days or after dark. Natural gas provides 25% of the output of the SEGS plants