https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201818900008
Concept and status of Concentrating Solar Power systems
DLR Institute of Solar Research - Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne, Germany
(*) E-mail: robert.pitz-paal@dlr.de
Published online: 2 October 2018
Development of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems has started about 40 years ago. A first commercial implementation was performed between 1985 and 1991 in California. However, a drop in gas prices caused a longer period without further deployment. It was overcome in 2007 when new incentive schemes for renewables in Spain and the US enabled a commercial restart. In 2017, almost 100 commercial CSP plants with more than 5 GW are installed worldwide. This paper describes the physical background of CSP technology, its technical characteristics and concepts. Furthermore, it discusses system performances, cost structures and the expected advancement.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2018
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
