Thanks

That looks like the parabolic trough array arrangement in California. Good for places with good in-beam radiation. Pure cylinder arrays have the advantage that the support framework can be fixed with the plane focus moving but this reduces the range of angular collection available: Also plane focus is a pain because efficiency drops if you try to collect at a line (tube) beyound the half radius point (as you loose the plane radiation from about 20-30 degress 'bounce angle' depending on the size of your tube relative to the cylinder diameter). On a small scale array, the parabolic works better than cylindrical because the support framework can be manufactured to a relatively low tolerance given that the focus line must be relatively large (to carry the oil). Good for medium heat production but no good for turbines as heat gen only to 400C.

I think that this sort of thing could well be one of the best types of alternatives to nuclear (particularly if we ended up with a world power grid which needs someone to invent a cheap superconductor rather than the low kelvin stuff available at the moment)

Rgds, Jon