Turning Up the Heat on Advanced Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Components

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology providers need to improve system efficiency and reduce costs to compete with flat-panel PV.

Advanced components and thermal energy storage can bring CSP back to the forefront of the solar industry for utility-scale, stand-alone power applications.
The opening of the Ivanpah concentrating solar power (CSP) plant has brought renewed interest in the technology, which produces electricity by focusing the sun’s rays to produce intense heat.
However, the crash of photovoltaic (PV) module prices will cause the CSP market to decline from 2.45GW in 2013 to 2.0GW in 2018. Nonetheless, the technology has the potential to bounce back and beat multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) in levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), according to the Lux Research