Solar-to-thermal conversion efficiency of the parabolic trough collector significantly degrades at high operating temperatures, which exerts seriously negative effects on the development of parabolic trough collectors. To solve this knotty problem, based on the theory of the negative thermal-flux region, a novel parabolic trough solar receiver with a radiation shield was proposed, manufactured, and tested. In this framework, the proposed solar receiver is employed in the concentrated solar power plants using solar salt as the heat transfer fluid to analyze its feasibility in real solar power plants. In this study, the mathematical models of heat collection and economic assessment are established, and the simulation results yield a good agreement with the experimental data. The techno-economic performances of the solar power plants installing the proposed solar receivers in three typical areas under different installed capacities and thermal storage capacities are comprehensively investigated. The results demonstrate that the proposed solar receiver has a great potential for significant enhancement of the techno-economic performance of the solar power plant. The solar power plant with the proposed solar receivers located in Dunhuang can effectively improve the annual net electrical energy production by 9.77%, reduce the levelized cost of energy by 8.67%. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.