Energy

Concentration collectors

Concentration collectors are thermal solar panels that use a mirror system that reflects the sunrays and makes them concentrate on a receiver. Collectors can be linear, when they concentrate sunrays on a segment of a straight line, or they can concentrate sunrays on a single point, heating the out-flowing fluid of the panel at more than 100°C. The thermal energy produced can be directly sent to the users. Or the heat produced by the various solar concentrators can activate the motors that are activated by the heat at a medium-high temperature (i.e. to pump water or other mechanic applications). The thermal energy can also be transformed into electric energy thanks to solar thermoelectric power plants. In those plants, the thermal energy captured by the collectors is used to transform water into steam which, in its turn, operates a turbine connected to an electric energy generator (see image). These power plants are environmentally friendly, with a very limited environmental impact as compared to fossil fuels plants, since the only substance to be emitted into the atmosphere is steam.