The optimization code ETRANS was developed at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory to design and estimate the costs associated with energy transport systems for distributed fields of solar collectors. The code uses frequently cited layouts for dish and trough collectors and optimizes them on a section-by-section basis. The optimal section design is that combination of pipe diameter and insulation thickness that yields the minimum annualized system-resultant cost. Among the quantities included in the costing algorithm are (1) labor and materials costs associated with initial plant construction, (2) operating expenses due to daytime and nighttime heat losses, and (3) operating expenses due to pumping power requirements. Two preliminary series of simulations were conducted to exercise the code. The results indicate that transport system costs for both dish and trough collector fields increase with field size and receiver exit temperature. Furthermore, dish collector transport systems were found to be much more expensive to build and operate than trough transport systems. ETRANS itself is stable and fast-running and shows promise of being a highly effective tool for the analysis of distributed solar thermal systems.