The purpose of the Solar Concentrating Systems Unit (USCS) is to promote and contribute to the development of solar radiation concentrating systems, both for power generation and for industrial processes which require solar concentration, whether for medium or high temperatures or high photon flux.

This Unit consists of three R&D Groups:

• Medium Concentration Group,
  
• High Concentration Group, and
  
• Solar Fuels & Solarization of Industrial Processes Group

The activities performed in the USCS in 2007 followed four master lines that are defined as goals:

• Develop new solar concentrating system components with an improved quality/price ratio.
  
• Develop simulation and characterization tools for this type of solar system.
  
• Encourage and promote vanguard action in solar concentrating technologies, opening the way to medium and technology long-term improvement, and
  
• Facilitate development and consolidation of a national solar concentrating system industry through technical-scientific consulting and technology transfer.

The new regulatory framework defined by Royal Decree 661/2007 of May 25, 2007 (BOE nº 126, May 26, 2007) on the sale of electricity generated by solar thermal power plants provided new leverage for the promotion of this type of plant in Spain. The increase it set in the premium for electricity produced by solar thermal power plants, although it left some gaps to be covered in certain details, boosted the interest of business in these plants, and caused frenetic promotional activity. At the end of 2007, the total power of plants applying for inclusion in the Special Regime was nearly 4 GWe, of which almost 2 GWe already had a connection to the grid.

This activity led to many requests for PSA Solar Concentrating Systems Unit technical and scientific consulting from many companies in the sector in 2007, which along with R&D projects already underway caused a workload far in excess of the available resources. However, a remarkable effort was made in this Unit to attend to all the companies who requested information, technical support or cooperation. The number of Cooperation Agreements signed and technical services performed are good proof of this.

Along this same line of support to industry, an intensive course on “Solar Concentrating Systems” given in Madrid from November 5th to 15th was received with enthusiasm by all sectors (engineering, builders, equipment manufacturers, research centers) involved in technological and commercial development of solar thermal power plants. This year, the compendium of texts prepared for last year’s course was improved, and is now the most complete compendium of such documentation currently available in Spain on solar concentrating systems (design, component development, operation and maintenance, storage, future perspectives, etc.).

The following chapters summarize the most important activities and achievements in the three R&D groups in the Solar Concentrating Unit. The large number of projects in which the Unit participated, continuing the trend of previous years, covers the whole range of solar concentrating systems.