Another Pathway to Large-Scale Power Generation: Concentrating Solar Power

Abstract

Photovoltaics is not the only means of using sunlight to generate electricity. Another major solar technology is called “concentrating solar power” or CSP. CSP technologies use concentrating optics to generate high temperatures that are used to drive conventional steam or gas turbines. CSP is generally considered a central generation technology, rather than a source of distributed generation. That is, a large amount of power is generated in one location, with transmission and distribution to the various points of use, rather than generating small amounts of the power at numerous points of use. Because of this feature, CSP is predominantly a utility-scale source of power.