page_title: Concentrated solar power
hierarchical_section_title: Concentrated solar power
caption_attribution_description: Looking west towards the Ivanpah's three boiler towers.
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: Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal) 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 (solar thermal energy), which drives a heat engine (usually a steam turbine) 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 (1,049 °F) vs. trough's maximum of 400 °C (752 °F) — which promises greater efficiency.
  Among the larger CSP projects are the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility (392 MW) in the United States, which uses solar power tower technology without thermal energy storage, and the Ouarzazate Solar Power Station in Morocco, which combines trough and tower technologies for a total of 510 MW with several hours of energy storage.
  As a thermal energy generating power station, CSP has more in common with thermal power stations such as coal, gas, or geothermal. A CSP plant can incorporate thermal energy storage, which stores energy either in the form of sensible heat or as latent heat (for example, using molten salt), which enables these plants to continue to generate electricity whenever it is needed, day or night. This makes CSP a dispatchable form of solar. Dispatchable renewable energy is particularly valuable in places where there is already a high penetration of photovoltaics (PV), such as California because an evening peak is created as PV ramps down at sunset (a phenomenon referred to as duck curve).
  CSP is often compared to photovoltaic solar (PV) since they both use solar energy. While solar PV experienced huge growth in recent years due to falling prices, Solar CSP growth has been slow due to technical difficulties and high prices. In 2017, CSP represented less than 2% of worldwide installed capacity of solar electricity plants. 
  However, CSP can more easily store energy during the night, making it more competitive with dispatchable generators and baseload plants. 
  The DEWA project in Dubai, under construction in 2019, held the world record for lowest CSP price in 2017 at $73 per MWh for its 700 MW combined trough and tower project: 600 MW of trough, 100 MW of tower with 15 hours of thermal energy storage daily.
  Base-load CSP tariff in the extremely dry Atacama region of Chile reached below ¢5.0/kWh in 2017 auctions.
caption: The three towers of the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility
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