This top-down map plots the exact same heliostat-tracking geometry as the 3D version — each mirror still tilts to bisect the angle between the sun and the central receiver in full 3D, but here that per-mirror cosine efficiency is read out directly as marker colour and beam brightness instead of being hidden inside a rendered scene, so the asymmetric "hot" and "cold" rings of a real CSP field become obvious at a glance.
normal = normalize(sunDir + towerDir)
P_field = Σ DNI · cos(normal·sunDir) · A_mirror
dT/dt = (P_field − P_loss − P_extracted) / thermalMass
P_elec = η_turbine · P_extracted (only once T ≥ operating threshold)
- Sun elevation — lower sun angles worsen everyone's cosine efficiency at once, exactly like early morning or winter reduces a real plant's output.
- Heliostat field — more mirrors mean more collection area, but each added ring sits at a worse average angle — watch the outer ring dim on the map.
- Direct irradiance (DNI) — the raw solar resource; only the direct beam concentrates, so haze or humidity (lower DNI) hurts CSP far more than flat-panel PV.
- Turbine draw — how hard the plant pulls stored thermal energy off the receiver/salt loop; draw too hard and the receiver cools faster than the sun can reheat it.
- Pass cloud — briefly zeroes the direct beam so you can watch the strip chart show the receiver's thermal mass buffering the turbine through a short outage.