ASME STP-PT-054

Numerous concentrated solar power (CSP) facilities have been in successful commercial operation for the past 25 years. Recently, government incentives and advances in cost reduction have brought many new players into the field. An accelerated deployment of CSP is currently being seen worldwide. Many of the developing technologies in CSP have failure modes and effects different from those treated by existing boiler and pressure vessel codes. This study is a gap analysis to identify differences between the safety regulation needs of emerging CSP technologies and existing ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel codes (BPV). Six leading CSP technologies are examined. The safety related failure modes of these systems are identified and compared with existing Code rules to identify gaps in code coverage. Recommendations for actions to close these gaps are proposed.