Because so much sunlight is concentrated in a small
area, the tower fluid becomes superheated, reaching 650°
Celsius [10]. These higher temperatures help to reduce the
cost of thermal storage. Also, the heliostats used in central
receivers are nearly flat, rather than curved, reducing their
manufacturing cost [11]. These features combine to give
central receivers the potential to be produced inexpensively
[12]. A major benefit of a CSP plant is that its fuel comes
directly from the sun. This is a renewable energy source that
has the added benefit of being completely free to harvest
[13]. The generation of electricity through CSP produces
few, if any, harmful atmospheric emissions. Since the energy
source comes directly from the sun, there is no destructive
extraction process [14]. There is also no combustion process
when generating power with CSP, which eliminates the issue
of hazardous emissions [15]. In most electric generation
systems, the fuel must be combusted to release heat for use
in generation [16]. With CSP, energy from the sun is directly
utilized for the heat used in the electricity generation
process. This lack of a conversion step is a key component
of what makes CSP such a clean energy source [17]. CSP
has been under investigation for several decades, and is
based on a simple general scheme: using mirrors, sunlight
can be redirected, focused and collected as heat, which can
in turn be used to power a turbine or a heat engine to
generate electricity [18]. Despite being relatively
uncomplicated, this method involves several steps that can
each be implemented in a plethora of different ways. The
chosen execution method of every stage in solar thermal
power production must be optimally matched to various
technical, economic and environmental factors that may
favor one approach over another [19]. Extensive