page_title: Concentrated solar power
section_title: Solar power tower
hierarchical_section_title: Concentrated solar power / Current technology / Solar power tower
caption_attribution_description: Español: Solúcar PS10 es una planta solar termoeléctrica por tecnología de torre, la primera en el mundo explotada comercialmente.English: Solucar PS10 is the first tower based solar thermal power plant in the world that generates electricity commercially.
context_page_description: Concentrated solar power systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight onto a receiver. Electricity is generated when the concentrated light is converted to heat, which drives a heat engine connected to an electrical power generator or powers a thermochemical reaction.
  CSP had a global total installed capacity of 5,500 MW in 2018, up from 354 MW in 2005. Spain accounted for almost half of the world's capacity, at 2,300 MW, despite no new capacity entering commercial operation in the country since 2013.
  The United States follows with 1,740 MW. Interest is also notable in North Africa and the Middle East, as well as India and China.
  The global market was initially dominated by parabolic-trough plants, which accounted for 90% of CSP plants at one point.
  Since about 2010, central power tower CSP has been favored in new plants due to its higher temperature operation — up to 565 °C vs. trough's maximum of 400 °C — which promises greater efficiency.
context_section_description: A solar power tower consists of an array of dual-axis tracking reflectors (heliostats) that concentrate sunlight on a central receiver atop a tower; the receiver contains a heat-transfer fluid, which can consist of water-steam or molten salt. Optically a solar power tower is the same as a circular Fresnel reflector. The working fluid in the receiver is heated to 500–1000 °C (773–1,273 K or 932–1,832 °F) and then used as a heat source for a power generation or energy storage system. An advantage of the solar tower is the reflectors can be adjusted instead of the whole tower. Power-tower development is less advanced than trough systems, but they offer higher efficiency and better energy storage capability. Beam down tower application is also feasible with heliostats to heat the working fluid.
  The Solar Two in Daggett, California and the CESA-1 in Plataforma Solar de Almeria Almeria, Spain, are the most representative demonstration plants. The Planta Solar 10 (PS10) in Sanlucar la Mayor, Spain, is the first commercial utility-scale solar power tower in the world. The 377 MW Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, located in the Mojave Desert, is the largest CSP facility in the world, and uses three power towers. Ivanpah generated only 0.652 TWh (63%) of its energy from solar means, and the other 0.388 TWh (37%) was generated by burning natural gas.
caption: The PS10 solar power plant in Andalusia, Spain, concentrates sunlight from a field of heliostats onto a central solar power tower.
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