Invention and Engineering

Concentrated solar power

Concentrated solar power (CSP), also called concentrating solar power or concentrated solar thermal, involves systems that collect solar heat for multiple purposes like cooking, desalination, or the generation of electric solar power, by using mirrors to concentrate a large area of sunlight toward a receiver. Electricity is generated when the concentrated light is converted to heat (solar thermal energy), which drives a heat engine, either Stirling engine or a steam turbine as in fossil thermal power stations, via an electrical power generator, or powers a thermochemical reaction. In combination with thermal energy storage, concentrated solar power can produce electricity also during the night, to compete against the combination of battery energy storage systems fed by photovoltaics, the predominant solar power technology, with about 1 terawatt of global installed nameplate capacity in 2022. By comparison, as of 2021, global installed capacity was less than 1% as concentrated solar power stood at only 6.8 GW. As of 2023, the total was 8.1 GW, with the inclusion of three new CSP projects in construction in China and in Dubai in the UAE. The U.S.-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which maintains a global database of CSP plants, counts 6.6 GW of operational capacity and another 1.5 GW under construction.

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• ▸British Rail Class 15
• ▸Architecture of Warsaw
• ▸Daniela Rus

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