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Solar Dish Stirling engines could be used in hot countries instead of Photovoltaic.
In hot areas where photovoltaics lose efficiency or needs water cooling, solar dish Stirling engines could be used with better effectiveness and to save water.
In high solar intensity regions where photovoltaics might heat up solar dish Stirling engines could be used for energy production. Stirling engine works with temperature difference and typically the solar dish Stirling engine is heated up to temperature of 750 °C. Heating is done by concentrating sun light with a large parabolic mirror. No water cooling is needed, although it can be applied when Stirling engine is used in water pump stations, where pumped up water can be used to increase the temperature difference and therefore increasing the effectiveness of the Stirling engine.
The dish stirling usually needs water only for cleaning the mirror. When compared to other concentrating solar thermal power plants the dish stirling’s water usage is much lower. This is important aspect in areas where water resources are scarce. Also the dish stirling offers best solar to electricity efficiency from current concentrating solar thermal technology.
On the other hand the dish stirling suffers from same problem as all concentrating solar power systems. They can not operate in high wind areas because of the wide mirrors catches the wind and might even be damaged by it. Typically the dish stirling operates in wind speed lower then 65 km/h.
When all these are taken into account the dish stirling could be seen as very potential option in hot regions with scarce water resources. Wind speed needs to be taken account though and constructions to prevent high winds needs to be taken if necessary.
Your idea/solution in one sentence: Solar dish Stirling engines could provide good alternative in hot regions with scarce water resources.
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