A review and classification of layouts and optimization techniques used in design of heliostat fields in solar central receiver systems

Abstract

Central receiver systems are considered one of the most efficient ways to harness solar thermal energy. A significant component of these systems is a heliostat field which accounts for approximately 50% of the capital cost and is responsible for 40% of overall energy losses. It is, therefore, of prime importance to design high efficiency and cost-effective heliostat fields to bring down the cost of energy along with minimization of land size and environmental impact. Design of efficient and cost-effective heliostat field has been researched in the last four decades. In the recent past, the use of computational intelligence algorithms has dominated the areas of practical engineering, and central receiver system design is no different. This work provides an insight into different types of heliostat field layout designs. The aim is to present a review based classification of the progress in heliostat field layout design and computational intelligence based optimization methods used in different research works related to heliostat field optimization during the last four decades.