A comprehensive review of solar dish system: components, performance, and economy

Solar dish systems offer flexible solutions for renewable energy development, particularly in cost-controllable distributed energy applications. However, their commercialization remains hindered by challenges in various aspects, such as solar dish collectors, energy conversion units, thermal energy storage, system performance, economy, operation, and maintenance. This review comprehensively examined the problems of the components and system in solar dish systems, proposing potential solutions and research directions. At the components level, concentrators, receivers, and Stirling engines were analyzed, with particular attention dedicated to emerging technologies including thermoelectric cells, thermochemical reactors and thermal energy storage modules. System-level discussions addressed capacity, efficiency, economy, safety and operational reliability. The results indicated that improving flux uniformity and decoupling the solar dish collector from the Stirling engine will be significant directions for future development. Some novel energy conversion units, such as micro gas turbines, advanced thermoelectric cells, and thermochemical reactors, as well as efficient, convenient, and low-cost high-temperature thermal energy storage schemes, will play crucial roles in promoting the solar dish system. It is also necessary to balance capacity, efficiency, and economy and comprehensively evaluate and optimize global and lifecycle performance and cost through new methods. Moreover, enhanced focus on safety and reliability, along with the continuous optimization of design and operation management are also emphasized.