Solar power tower plants: a review on the potentials, requirements, characteristics, and components

Abstract Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, notably solar power tower (SPT) plants, have significant potential to generate carbon-free electricity. This work briefly overviews CSP technologies, whereas SPT is presented in greater detail. In addition, the essential requirements, solar irradiance, land, water needs, and grid proximity to install a CSP plant are explained. This work highlights the significance of integrating direct steam generation (DSG) technology with SPT plants. Depending on the solar field aperture area, operational DSG-based SPT plants can produce more electricity than molten-salt-based SPT plants. Also, a comprehensive review of SPT plant components and the most relevant literature is presented, along with a classification of their operational status. A research proposal is presented to study the off-design factors affecting the operation of SPT and its components. Hence, the literature reveals a lack of understanding of the effects of these factors on the thermal performance of solar receivers and the overall performance of SPT plants.