Distributed Power: Control Your Own Power Supply

Solar thermal distributed power plants provide power, heating and cooling for industrial and commercial use. They complement central power and can be suited to office buildings, resorts, industry and hospitals.

Advantages of on-site power stations:

• Provides flexibility to respond to increased power demands
• Reduces dependence on central power and plays an important role in energy security
• Offers stand-by power to institutions that cannot tolerate power stoppages
• Co-generates heat and power
• Can be planned and built quickly and are relatively cheap and easy to maintain  

The distributed power solar field is comprised of rows of solar collectors which generate steam through a heat exchanger. This steam, in turn, drives a condensed steam turbine, and the turbine converts part of the power into electricity. In addition to electricity, the hot water that exits in the power block can be recycled to operate cooling machines or deliver industrial and domestic hot water. The solar power stations can operate 24 hours a day with alternative fuels (biomass or gas) during non-daylight hours, thus extending their economic viability.