Integrated design and construction of a micro-central tower power plant

• We present a design of a micro-central tower power plant of 10 kWe in Burkina Faso.
• The design addresses energy access challenges in rural areas in the Sub-Saharan area.
• The emphasis is put on the use of local mankind and locally available materials.
• We build and test small size multifaceted heliostats that could easily be handled.
• A locally produced vegetable oil is used as heat transfer fluid & heat storage medium.

Concentrating solar power is considered as one of the promising ways for future sustainable electricity generation, especially in the Sahelian region, which is characterized by hot and sandy and high direct solar irradiation, but also a very low electricity access rate. This paper presents a design of a micro-central tower power plant of 10 kWe for Sahelian countries. The project reported here is specifically focused on a micro-concentrating solar and power project in Burkina Faso. It is designed to address energy access challenges in rural areas in the Sub-Saharan region, using central tower technology. The design of the power plant was thought in such a way to make locally possible the manufacturing of most of the components: local mankind and local materials are promoted and valued. We named after such a power plant CSP4Africa in this paper. The appropriate design, evaluation and selection methods are reported: solar field and its component design, solar receiver, conversion loop selection, thermal storage concept, storage tank design, heat transfer fluid, solar tower, etc. Some challenges faced during the design of CSP4Africa are also reported. Most of the components of the power plant have already been designed, built and under tests before their assembling for the pilot.