Power Tower Technology Research Articles

Heliostat Field Optical Efficiency Calculation

Abstract The solar power tower technology has the advantages of green pollution-free and stable power generation, which has gradually attracted extensive attention from researchers in recent years. The quick computation of the solar heliostat field’s optical efficiency carries substantial potential for refining the design of the heliostat field, thereby enhancing the efficiency of power generation. Based on the parallel light hypothesis, we propose a fast algorithm designed to compute the optical efficiency of heliostat field. The algorithm takes into account various optical loss terms such as mirror reflectivity, cosine efficiency, shadowing and blocking efficiency, atmospheric transmittance efficiency and truncation efficiency. When calculating the shadowing and blocking efficiency, the “judgment rectangle” is used to quickly screen the candidate heliostat that may produce shadowing and blocking to the target heliostat. When calculating the truncation efficiency of the receiver surface, the strip discrete method and geometric projection method are used to quickly judge whether the reflected light is intercepted by the receiver, thus improving the calculation speed of optical efficiency. Consider a surrounding heliostat field as a test case, the proposed algorithm is compared with the conventional ray tracing, and the effectiveness and efficiency of the new algorithm are verified. The algorithm proposed in this paper has the advantages of accurate results and high calculation efficiency, and provides valuable insights that can be utilized for optimizing the design of heliostat field and improving the efficiency of tower solar thermal power generation.

Techno-Economic Assessment of Electricity Generation From a Medium-Scale CSP-PV Hybrid Plant Using Long-Duration Storage

The South African electricity sector is transitioning from a single utility buyer model to an open market model due to increasing utility tariffs, the energy crisis, sustainability goals, and enabling legislation. As a result, the private sector is seeking to procure private power generation technologies, with solar photovoltaics (PV) and onshore wind being the primary choices. However, the integration of these technologies is limited due to their variability and lack of dispatchability. Concentrating solar power (CSP) tower technology combined with long-duration storage is gaining traction in high solar resource regions due to efficiency improvements and cost reductions. This paper evaluates a medium-scale CSP-PV hybrid plant’s technical and economic feasibility in South Africa, focusing on cost savings, energy security, and sustainability. The study identifies a hybrid plant suitable for large power users, with independent power producers (IPPs) developing such a plant using non-recourse project finance and energy sold to large users through long-term power purchase agreements (PPA). The first-year PPA tariffs are determined using a typical project finance model developed for local market conditions. Depending on the plant design and the off-taker’s utility tariff structure, the plant offers cost savings (and average tariffs) ranging from 9.25% (at 78 USD/MWh) to 17.58% (at 81 USD/MWh). Hybrid plants are expected to become more feasible and “bankable” with improving technology and decreasing costs in South Africa.

Comparative techno-economic and environmental analysis of a relocatable solar power tower for low to medium temperature industrial process heat supply

The primary objective of this study is to promote the adoption of solar power tower (SPT) technology in low to medium-temperature industrial process heat (IPH) applications and compare it with other heat generation alternatives. Through comprehensive techno-economic and environmental analyses, a proposed relocatable SPT-based IPH plant (PR-SPT-IPH), with a capacity of 1 MWth, is thoroughly evaluated against traditional concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) technologies like parabolic trough collectors (PTC) and linear Fresnel reflectors (LFR), as well as natural gas (NG) and photovoltaic (PV)-based IPH systems. The techno-economic assessment of the PR-SPT-IPH is performed using an in-house developed MATLAB code, while the system advisor model (SAM) is used to simulate equivalent PTC-, LFR-, and PV-based IPH plants. The primary techno-economic assessment metric is the levelized cost of heat (LCOH), while the environmental analysis quantifies the avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other pollutants resulting from NG combustion. The results show that the PR-SPT-IPH plant achieves the lowest LCOH of 2.42 cents/kWhth, generating annual thermal energy of 5.62 GWhth with a capacity factor of 48.27 %. With certain assumptions, this cost can be further reduced to 1.5 cents/kWhth, meeting the U.S. Department of Energy targets. The PR-SPT-IPH plant could annually avoid emitting 1112 kg of CO2, 54 kg of particulate matter, 1201.76 kg of NOx, and 5.08 kg of SO2. It could also save annual external costs between $43,100.28 and $153,194.67, while the annually saved fuel cost could reach $151,632. The study indicates that the PR-SPT-IPH plant surpasses PTC-, LFR-, NG-, and PV-based IPH plants both technically and financially. With reduced capital costs and appropriate incentives, the PR-SPT-IPH plant emerges as an economically and environmentally viable choice for low to medium-temperature IPH applications.

Concentrated Solar Power Techno-Economic Analysis in Humid Subtropical South America: The Uruguayan Case

Abstract This study assesses the feasibility of installing concentrated solar power plants in subtropical South America, particularly in Uruguay, by numerical simulations. Parabolic trough and solar power tower technologies are examined. A comprehensive literature analysis is conducted in order to evaluate initial investment, operation, and maintenance costs. Simulation models are validated in order to ensure results accuracy. The study is focused on the optimization of solar fields and storage sizes for five locations. The target set is to minimize the levelized cost of energy. In addition, energy losses and efficiencies are compared between parabolic trough and solar power tower technologies. Salto region in Uruguay is identified as the most suitable location for concentrated solar power projects. Optimized plants yield solar multiples of 3 or higher for solar power tower and around 4 for parabolic trough, with storage sizes ranging from 12 to 15 h, depending on the location. In Salto, the levelized cost of energy ranges from 148 to 175 USD/MW h for 110 MW solar power tower and from 169 to 220 USD/MW h for 55 MW parabolic trough plants, considering different investment cost scenarios. Levelized cost of energy is comparable for other locations, with a slight increase of approximately 10% for the least favorable location, Rocha. This work shows that while not yet competitive with photovoltaic or wind technologies, concentrated solar power plants show promise against fossil-fueled power plants and are expected to decrease further in cost.

Vulnerability of Thermal Energy Storage Lining Material to Erosion Induced by Particulate Flow in Concentrated Solar Power Tower Systems.

Researchers from all around the world have been paying close attention to particle-based power tower technologies. On the King Saud University campus in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the first integrated gas turbine-solar particle heating hybrid system has been realized. In this study, two different types of experiments were carried out to examine how susceptible prospective liner materials for thermal energy storage tanks were to erosion. An accelerated direct-impact test with high particulate temperature was the first experiment. A low-velocity mass-flow test was the second experiment, and it closely mimicked the flow circumstances in a real thermal energy storage tank. The tests were conducted on bare insulating fire bricks (IFBs) and IFBs coated with Tuffcrete 47, Matrigun 25 ACX, and Tuffcrete 60 M. The latter three lining materials were high-temperature-resilient materials made by Allied Mineral Products Inc. (AMP) (Columbus, OH, USA). The results showed that although IFBs coated with AMP materials worked well in this test, the accelerated direct-impact test significantly reduced the bulk of the bare IFB. As a result, lining substances must be added to the surface of IFBs to increase their strength and protection because they cannot be used in situations where particles directly impact their surface. On the other hand, the findings of the 60 h cold-particle mass-flow test revealed that the IFBs were not significantly eroded. Additionally, it was discovered that the degree of erosion on the samples of bare IFB was unaffected by the height of the particle bed.

Performance evaluation of a solar based Brayton cycle integrated vapor compression-absorption trigeneration system for power, heating and low temperature cooling

Among the various solar technologies, solar power tower (SPT) technology is being widely used for large-scale energy generation. Therefore, this work developed a trigeneration system for SPT plant that produces power, heating and cooling at low temperature efficiently from a high temperature SPT heat source. In order to create heating and low temperature (at −20°C) cooling benefits for food preservation, this trigeneration unit integrates a cascaded vapor compression-absorption refrigeration system combined with a helium Brayton cycle for power generation. The exergy-energy analysis was performed by the numerical technique using engineering equation solver software to evaluate the performance of the proposed SPT plant. The power output, exergy and energy efficiency of the SPT plant were found as 14,865 kW, 39.53% and 28.82%, respectively. The coefficient of performances values for cooling and heating were observed as 0.5391 and 1.539, respectively. Exergy evaluation revealed that approximately 78.18% of the total energy destruction of the entire plant is attributed to the solar subsystem only. Furthermore, a parametric investigation shows that the temperature of the evaporator, generator and helium turbine inlet, and the efficiency of the heliostat and receiver all have a significant impact on the plant performance. Furthermore, a comparative analysis with relevant previous studies has shown that the proposed system outperforms systems based on supercritical CO2 cycles and the Rankine cycles.

Thermodynamic assessment of a novel solar powered trigeneration system for combined power generation, heating, and cooling

Solar power tower (SPT) technology is the mature technology among the various concentrated solar technologies for energy generation. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the efficient energy generation system that utilizes the SPT plant. In the current study, a novel trigeneration system was presented to utilize the SPT for combined power generation, heating, and cooling. The trigeneration system consists a helium Brayton cycle and organic Rankine cycle (ORC) with ejector refrigeration system for recovering the waste heat. The power was produced by the helium Brayton cycle and ORC turbine whereas, cooling and heating was produced simultaneously by the condenser and evaporator respectively. For building applications such as hospitals and hostels, the heating and cooling effects were generated at 50°C and 10°C respectively. Finally, the optimal system exhibits exergy and energy efficiency of 25.12% and 23.3%, respectively, when all the studied parameters are taken into consideration. Apart from this power output, heating and cooling productions were observed as 14,998, 60.52 and 8.25 kW and respectively at the 2.3 of compressor pressure ratio, 197.2°C of inlet temperature of ORC turbine.

Sustainable Power Generation Through Solar-Driven Integration of Brayton and Transcritical CO2 Cycles: A Comprehensive 3E (Energy, Exergy, and Exergoenvironmental) Evaluation.

Solar power tower technology has strong potential among the other concentration solar power techniques for large power generation. Therefore, it is necessary to make a new and efficient power conversion system for utilizing the solar power tower system. In present research, a novel combined cycle is proposed to generate power for the application of the solar power tower. The pre-compression configuration of the Brayton cycle is used as a topping cycle in which helium is taken as the working fluid. The transcritical CO2 cycle is used as bottoming cycle for using the waste heat. The proposed system is investigated based on exergy, energy, and exergoenvironmental point of view using computational technique engineering equation solver. Also, the parametric analysis is carried out to check the impact of the different variables on the system performance. It is concluded that the overall plant's optimized thermal and exergy efficiencies are obtained as 31.59% and 33.12%, respectively, at 800°C optimum temperature of combined cycle and 850Wm-2 of direct normal irradiation and 2.278 of compressor pressure ratio. However, exergetic stability factor and exergoenvironmental impact index are observed as 0.5952 and 0.6801 respectively. The present proposed system performs better than the previous studies with fewer components.

A method for real-time optimal heliostat aiming strategy generation via deep learning

Optimal aiming strategies are essential for efficient solar power tower technology operation. However, the high calculation complexity makes it difficult for existing optimization methods to solve the optimization problem in real-time directly. This work proposes a real-time optimal heliostat aiming strategy generation method via deep learning. First, a two-stage learning scheme where the neural network models are trained by genetic algorithm (GA) benchmark solutions to produce an optimal aiming strategy is presented. Then, an end-to-end model without needing GA solutions for training is developed and discussed. Furthermore, a robust end-to-end training method using randomly sampled flux maps is also proposed. The proposed models demonstrated comparable performance as GA with two orders of magnitude less computation time through case studies. Among the proposed models, the end-to-end model shows significantly better generalization ability than the pure data-driven two-stage model on the test set. A robust end-to-end model with data enhancement has better robustness on unseen flux maps.

Manufacturing and Thermal Shock Resistance of 3D-Printed Porous Black Zirconia for Concentrated Solar Applications

A novel approach for manufacturing porous materials, foreseen as solar receivers for concentrated sun radiation, used in the power tower technology is presented. In such applications, materials are subjected to steep thermal gradients and thousands of cycles. Yet, materials consisting of honeycombs and ceramic foams showed insufficient thermal performance. By using the fused filament fabrication process, one can design printed parts meeting the requirements for solar receivers, namely dark color and high solar absorptance. This exploratory study unveils data on the retained crushing strength of newly developed 3D-printed porous Black Zirconia cubes after thermal cycling under similar conditions to those experienced by volumetric receivers and catalyst substrates for solar fuels (H2 and/or CO) production via the thermochemical cycle. Unlike dense ceramics, the resistance to thermal shock of 3D-printed cubes underwent a gradual decrease with the increase in the thermal gradient. The thermal shock cycles were performed between 800 °C and 1100, 1200, and 1300 °C, corresponding to a ΔT of 300, 400, and 500 K, respectively. Additionally, water quenching tests were performed at ΔT = 300 K up to 400 K. Crushing strength measurements carried out to evaluate the retained mechanical strength after exposure up to 100 cycles showed that the Black Zirconia cubes can withstand thermal gradients up to at least 400 K.

Techno-economic assessment and optimization of the performance of solar power tower plant in Egypt's climate conditions

Egypt is a sunbelt nation with plenty of solar resources and significant wasteland areas, particularly in its southern and western regions. Concentrating solar power technologies are tried-and-true renewable energy systems that use solar radiation to produce electricity in nearby nations. These technologies have the potential to reduce costs in the future. Comprehensive techno-economic research has not been conducted to assess the potential for the solar power tower technique in Egypt; instead, solar photovoltaic and parabolic trough systems are given the majority of the attention. The major goal of this article is to persuade the Egyptian government to pursue solar power tower technology and meet the accompanying difficulties. Using system advisor model software, six distinct locations were used to simulate a 100 MW plant for solar power tower technology. Based on a thorough technical solar power tower site evaluation research, these zones were examined. To achieve the lowest levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), thermal energy storage and solar field size optimization are carried out. The Benban location, with outputs of 521,228.8 MWh and 0.1130 $/kWh, respectively, has the greatest produced energy and the lowest levelized cost of electricity, according to the findings. The ideal design for the solar power tower plant was shown by the results to be a solar multiple of 2.8 with a thermal energy storage of 8 h. The solar power tower plant's lowest levelized cost of electricity might then be reduced, in accordance with the optimum configurations, to 0.1057 $/kWh.

Canting heliostats with computer vision and theoretical imaging

Solar Power Tower technology requires accurate techniques to ensure the optical performance of the heliostats both in commissioning and operation phases. This paper presents a technique based on target reflection to detect and correct canting errors in heliostat facets. A camera mounted on the back of a target heliostat sees an object heliostat and the target facets in reflection. The pixels difference between detected and theoretical borders determines the canting errors. Experiments in a lab scale testbed show that canting errors can be corrected up to an average value of around as low as 0.15 mrad. Experiments were also performed on a real heliostat at Plataforma Solar de Almería. As a result, canting errors (up to 5 mrad) have been reduced below 0.75 mrad. Mirror slope errors, which can be noticeable in large facets, becomes the largest source of inaccuracy in the presented method.

A comparative study between two different techniques of solar integrated systems

• Integrated solar system based on SPT offers the best annual thermal performances. • The solar power tower allows HRSG to operate in fired mode. • Ganapathy’s method is adopted to evaluate the steam mass flow generation. • Noticeable enhancement in solar-to-electric efficiency with a value of about 21%. • ISCC saves about 20.12 million $ of fuel and 0.5 million ton of CO 2 during 30 years. A comparative study between two techniques of solar integration in Integrated Solar Combined Cycle system power plant in terms of thermal performances and economic assessment is carried out in this work. The first system power plant is based on parabolic trough collector technology where solar heat is introduced in the steam power block as a latent heat and the second system runs with a solar power tower technology. The latter integrates solar thermal energy as a sensible heat to heat up the flue gases from the gas turbine till the fired temperature before entering the heat recovery steam generator. Thermodynamic investigations show high thermal performance for both thermal power plants, but the system plant with solar tower exhibits the best annual performances efficiency value of about 57.2%. Furthermore, in terms of solar conversion to electricity, the plant based on solar tower reveals noticeable enhancements; almost constant values during the year of about 20.8% have been registered. In terms of economic analysis, both power plants show approximately the same Levelized cost of energy of 0.0395 $/kWh and 0.0355 $/kWh for the plant based solar tower and that based parabolic collector respectively.

Multi-criteria decision making for different concentrated solar thermal power technologies

Solar thermal power technologies are promising renewable energy sources that could replace the conventional fossil fuel power plants. Parabolic trough collector (PTC), linear Fresnel reflector (LFR), solar power tower (SPT), and Solar power dish (SPD) are the commercial concentrated solar thermal power technologies. Technical, economical, and environmental aspects are varied from one technology to another. Deciding the best solar thermal power technology is quite important for the commercial applications. In order to decide the best technology, based on 22 criterions including the technical (9), economical (2), and environmental (11) aspects, different multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) models were applied. The main parameters of the MCDM model that determine the rating of alternatives include the choice of the method of normalization of the matrix of decisions, the choice of the method for evaluating the weights of the criteria and the choice of the method of aggregation of attributes when determining the indicator of the effectiveness of alternatives. Three different groups of MCDM methods are defined as a method for aggregating attributes in determining the performance indicator of alternatives: based on a weighted sum approach (WSM, WPM, WAPRAS), based on the concept of distance or distance from the desired object (TOPSIS, GRA, VIKOR), and based on the approach of aggregating local ratings based on setting the preference function (PROMETHEE-II). According to the results of all models, alternative A4 that represents the solar power dish technology is the best selection among the different solar technologies. A4 is winner (first rank I) for about 65% of considered cases followed by A3 that represents solar power tower technology. A3 is winner (first rank I) for about 35% of considered cases.

Evaluation of external tubular configurations for a high-temperature chloride molten salt solar receiver operating above 700 °C

Next-generation concentrating solar power (CSP) tower technologies target operating temperatures exceeding 700 °C to increase the thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency. Molten chloride salts are one possible alternative to current commercial molten nitrate salts to enable the higher operating temperature. This paper analyzes the predicted optical, thermal-fluids, and structural performance of traditional external tubular solar receiver configurations applied with a chloride salt heat transfer fluid (HTF) and inlet/outlet temperatures of 500 °C/735 °C, and considers sensitivity analysis and optimization relative to receiver sizing, tube sizing, number of panels, flow circuit configurations, and solar flux concentration under constraints on internal velocity, pressure drop, wall thickness, and required creep-fatigue lifetime. The high temperature conditions increase the significance of inelastic deformation mechanisms such as creep relative to that expected in commercial 565 °C nitrate salt designs. High-temperature creep and creep-fatigue damage in the metal alloy tubes are the key factors that limit allowable solar flux concentration and achievable receiver thermal efficiency at the near-800 °C wall temperature conditions. For a traditional external cylindrical receiver configuration, the design parameters and conditions capable of satisfying all constraints produced, at best, a design point receiver efficiency of 78.2%, or 80.5% when excluding receiver intercept efficiency. Variation in the optimal receiver performance relative to uncertainty in the binding maximum velocity, minimum wall thickness, and minimum lifetime constraints is presented.

An integrated renewable energy based plant with energy storage for a sustainable community

Development and deployment of nature-friendly power technologies are recognized as vital to liberate humankind from disputes spinning around the production, consumption, and sharing of hydrocarbon-based energy sources. In this study, a novel integrated renewable energy plant is developed, simulated and analyzed for the Caribbean Island Nation of Antigua and Barbuda. In this regard, energy is produced from free, clean and abundant wind and solar via wind turbine and concentrated solar power tower technologies. The system’s annual electric energy production is evaluated at around 341 GWh corresponding to 110% of the country’s current annual electricity consumption. The proposed system comprises underwater balloons to store excess energy from wind and solar arrays via compressed air for later power generation. In addition, stored compressed air in underwater balloons is a source of energy to fuel 140 city-driving pneumatic vehicles with a range of 80 km on a daily basis. As well, the proposed system employs a multistage desalination unit to provide 376 tons of fresh water to the region daily. Furthermore, the integrated energy system is scalable to deliver additional potable water production and compressed air to power additional pneumatic vehicles. Overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the proposed system are computed as 52.53% and 43.65%, respectively.

A Practical Methodology for the Design and Cost Estimation of Solar Tower Power Plants

Concerns over the environmental influence of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have encouraged researchers to develop alternative power technologies. Among the most promising, environmentally friendly power technologies for large-scale applications are solar power tower plants. The implementation of this technology calls for practical modeling and simulation tools to both size the plant and investigate the scale effect on its economic indices. This paper proposes a methodology to design the main components of solar power tower plants and to estimate the specific investment costs and the economic indices. The design approach used in this study was successfully validated through a comparison with the design data of two operational commercial power tower plants; namely, Gemasolar (medium-scale plant of 19.9 MWe) and Crescent Dunes (large-scale plant of 110 MWe). The average uncertainty in the design of a fully operational power tower plant is 8.75%. A cost estimation showed the strong influence of the size of the plant on the investment costs, as well as on the economic indices, including payback period, internal rate of return, total life charge costs, and levelized cost of electricity. As an illustrative example, the methodology was applied to design six solar power tower plants in the range of 10–100 MWe for integration into mining processes in Chile. The results show that the levelized cost of electricity decreases from 156 USD/MWhe for the case of a 10-MWe plant to 131 USD/MWhe for the case of a 100-MWe plant. The internal rate of return of plants included in the analyses ranges from 0.77% (for the 10-MWe case) to 2.37% (for 100-MWe case). Consequently, the simple payback ranges from 16 years (for the 100-MWe case) to 19 years (for the 10-MWe case). The sensitivity analysis shows that the size of the solar receiver heavily depends on the allowable heat flux. The degradation rate and the discount rate have a strong influence on economic indices. In addition, both the operation and the deprecation period, as well as the price of electricity, have a crucial impact on the viability of a solar power tower plant. The proposed methodology has great potential to provide key information for prospective analyses for the implementation of power tower technologies to satisfy clean energy needs under a wide range of conditions.

Performance Analysis of a Solar–Biogas Hybrid Micro Gas Turbine for Power Generation

Abstract A performance assessment was conducted for a solar–biogas hybrid micro gas turbine integrated with a solar power tower technology. The considered system is a solar central receiver integrated with a micro gas turbine hybrid with biogas fuel as a backup. The Brayton cycle is designed to receive a dual integrated heat source input that works alternatively to keep the heat input to the system continuous. The study considered several key performance parameters including meteorological condition effects, recuperator existence and effectiveness, solar share, and gas turbine components performance. This study shows a significant reduction in CO2 emissions due to the utilization and hybridization of the renewable energies, solar, and biogas. The study reveals that the solar–biogas hybrid micro gas turbine for 100-kW power production has a CO2 emission less than a conventional fossil fuel gas turbine. Finally, the study shows that the method of power generation hybridization for solar and biogas gas turbines is a promising technique that leads to fuel-savings and lower CO2 emissions.

A non-intrusive optical (NIO) approach to characterize heliostats in utility-scale power tower plants: Sensitivity study

Power towers, a type of concentrating power tower technology, use a large number of heliostats to concentrate sunlight and produce renewable energy. Optical errors of heliostats can cause drastic losses in the efficiency of power-tower plants. Accurately measuring optical errors is crucial to assessing and improving plant performance. This analysis discusses an innovate non-intrusive optical (NIO) approach to measure slope, canting, and tracking errors by detecting distortions in the reflected tower structure in heliostat images. A sensitivity study is carefully conducted to determine the uncertainty requirements to allow the method to calculate slope errors with an accuracy of 0.25 mrad. Measurement uncertainty sources include camera resolution and position uncertainty, tower position uncertainty, and number of collected images. Each uncertainty source is investigated to determine its impact on the accuracy of the slope-error calculation. A combination of theoretical results and experimental results obtained from data collected on a heliostat at Sandia National Laboratories is used to determine and validate uncertainty requirements. The analysis shows that a measurement uncertainty of 0.25 mrad can be realized by realistically controlling uncertainty sources when implementing the NIO method. It demonstrates the superior performance of NIO in performing in-situ optical characterization.

Effect of aspect ratio of heliostats on the optical efficiency of solar tower power plant – an experimental analysis

ABSTRACT Concentrated solar power tower (CSPT) technology coupled with molten salt thermal storage is a very promising approach to harness solar energy as it offers good efficiency along with cheap storage and it can thus meet the fluctuating demand for electricity in a grid. This helps to avoid additional investment in fossil fuel–powered plants used for base load and peaking demand. However, their large-scale adoption is constrained by their relatively high capital cost. One of the most important cost elements in a CSPT plant is the cost of heliostats themselves. Normally heliostats use square-shaped reflector, whereas it is reported that heliostats with reflectors of aspect ratio (width/height ratio) of approximately 2.0 are cheaper due to reduced wind loads on them. Further, simulation of heliostat fields populated with rectangular heliostats of an aspect ratio of 2.0 has shown that such heliostat fields are not only cheaper to build but also optically more efficient. This paper discusses the results of a small experimental setup created to validate the results of these simulations.