Contenido

La CSP es usada para producir electricidad (algunas veces llamada termoelectricidad solar, usualmente generada mediante vapor). Los sistemas tecnológicos de concentración solar usando espejos o lentes con sistemas de seguimiento del sol para enfocar una gran área de incidencia de radiación solar sobre una pequeña superficie. Luego la luz concentrada es usada como fuente de calor para una central de energía eléctrica. Los concentradores solares usados en los sistemas CSP a menudo pueden ser usados para proporcionar refrigeración o calefacción industrial.

Las tecnologías de concentración existen en cuatro formas comunes, cilíndrico parabólico"), discos Stirling, reflector fresnel lineal compacto") y torre de energía solar.[11]​ Aunque simples, estos concentradores solares están lejos de la capacidad de concentración máxima.[12]​[13]​ Por ejemplo, la concentración cilíndrico parabólica logra 1/3 del máximo teórico para el ángulo de aceptación&action=edit&redlink=1 "Ángulo de aceptación (concentrador solar) (aún no redactado)") de diseño, esto es, para la misma tolerancia total para ese sistema. Se puede lograr una aproximación al máximo teórico usando concentradores más elaborados basados en óptica no formadora de imágenes.

Diferentes tipos de concentradores producen diferentes temperaturas máximas con sus correspondientes eficiencias termodinámicas, debido a las diferencias en la forma en que ellos siguen al sol y enfocan la luz. Nuevas innovaciones en la tecnología CSP están llevando a que los sistemas sean más y más costo-efectivos.[14]​.

Parabolic cylindrical solar concentrator

A parabolic cylindrical solar concentrator consists of a linear parabolic reflector that concentrates light onto a receiver positioned along the focal line of the reflector. The receiver is a tube positioned directly above the middle of the parabolic mirror and is filled with a working fluid. The reflector follows the sun during daylight hours on a single axis. A working fluid (for example, molten salt[15]​) is heated to a temperature between 150–350 °C when it flows through the receiver and then this is used as a heat source to be used in a generating system.[16]​ Cylindrical systems are the most developed CSP technology. The Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) plants in California, the first parabolic trough plants in the world, Acciona's Nevada Solar One located near Boulder City, Nevada "Boulder City (Nevada)") and Andasol, the first parabolic trough plant in Europe, are typical, along with the SSPS-DCS Tabernas Solar Platform test facilities located in Spain.[17]​.

Closed cylinder systems are used to produce process heating. The design encapsulates the solar thermal system inside a glass building like a greenhouse. The building creates a protected environment that can withstand the onslaught of elements that can negatively affect the reliability and efficiency of the solar thermal system.[18] Lightweight curved mirrors that reflect the sun are suspended using cables from the roof of the glass building. A single-axis tracking system positions the mirrors to recover the optimal amount of sunlight. The mirrors concentrate sunlight and focus it onto a fixed network of steel pipes, which are also suspended from the glass building structure.[19] Water is transported through the pipes where it is brought to the boiling point and generate steam using the solar radiation concentrated by the mirrors. Protecting the mirrors from the wind allows them to achieve higher temperatures and prevents dust from accumulating on the mirrors.[18]​.

Fresnel reflectors

Fresnel reflectors are made of many strips of thin, flat mirrors that concentrate sunlight onto tubes into which the working fluid is pumped. Flat mirrors allow more reflective surface area in the same amount of space as a parabolic reflector, thus capturing more of the available sunlight, and are cheaper than parabolic reflectors. Fresnel reflectors can be used in CSPs of various sizes.[20]​[21]​.

Stirling Disc

A Stirling dish or dish motor system consists of a single parabolic reflector that concentrates light onto a receiver positioned at the focal point of the reflector. The reflector follows the Sun in two axes. The working fluid in the receiver is heated to between 250 and 700 °C and is then used by a Stirling engine to generate electricity. Parabolic dish systems provide the highest efficiency among CSP technologies, between 31% to 32%, and their modular nature provides them with scalability. The companies Stirling Energy Systems (SES) and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) have disks at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and at the Australian National University (the Big Dish&action=edit&redlink=1 "The Big Dish (solar thermal) (not yet redacted)") in Canberra, Australia) and are examples of this technology. The world record for conversion efficiency to electricity was set in 2008 at 31.25% by SES disks at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility. The SES facility in Maricopa, Arizona was the largest Stirling disk facility in the world until it was sold to United Sun Systems, which is moving large portions of the facilities. to China as part of the effort to meet this country's enormous energy needs.[22]​.

central tower solar power plant

A central tower solar power plant consists of a set of reflectors (heliostats) with tracking capacity in two axes, which concentrate sunlight on a central receiver installed on a tower; The receiver contains a fluid stored in a reservoir, which may be seawater. This working fluid contained in the receiver is heated to between 500–1000 °C and is then used as a heat source for power generation or for a heat storage system.[16] The development of central tower solar plants is less advanced than cylindrical systems, but they offer higher efficiency and better energy storage capacity. The Solar Dos project located in Daggett"), California and the CESA-1 located in Plataforma Solar de Almería, Almería, Spain, are the most typical demonstration plants of this technology. The Planta Solar 10 (PS10) plant located in Sanlúcar la Mayor, Spain, is the first central tower solar plant for commercial purposes in the world. The 5 MW Sierra SunTower" plant from the company eSolar"), located in Lancaster, California "Lancaster (California)"), is the only central tower facility operating in North America. The National Solar Thermal Test Facility[23]​ located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is an experimental solar thermal plant with an installed surface of heliostats capable of producing 6 MW.

Commercial installations of CSP plants began around 1984 in the United States with the SEGS plants until 1990 when the last SEGS plant was completed. From 1991 to 2006 no CSP plant was built in the world.

For solar thermodynamic systems, the maximum sun-to-work efficiency (for example: electricity) can be deduced by considering both the properties of thermal radiation and the second law of thermodynamics (or Carnot's principle).[130] Indeed, solar irradiation must first be converted into heat using a solar receiver with an efficiency ; This heat is then converted into work with a thermodynamic or Carnot efficiency. Hence, for a solar receiver that provides a heat source at a temperature T and a heat dissipation at a temperature T° (for example: atmosphere at T° = 300 K):.

For a solar flux I (for example: I = 1000 W/m²) concentrated C times with an efficiency in a solar receiver system with an area A and an absorbance:.

For simplicity, one can assume that the losses are solely due to radiation (a correct assumption for high temperatures), and so for a reradiation area A and an emissivity applying the performances indicated by the Stefan-Boltzmann law:.

Simplifying these equations by considering perfect optics (= 1), equal collection and irradiation areas and maximum absorbance and emissivity (= 1, = 1) then substituting into the first equation what gives.

One can see that the efficiency does not simply increase monotonically with receiver temperature. In fact, the higher the temperature, the higher the thermodynamic efficiency, but the lower the receiver efficiency. Hence, the maximum achievable temperature (that is, when the efficiency of the receiver is zero, the blue curve in the figure) is:

There is a temperature T for which the efficiency is maximum, when the efficiency derived in relation to the receiver temperature is zero:.

Therefore, this leads us to the following equation:

Solving this equation numerically allows us to obtain the optimal temperature of the process according to the proportion of the solar concentration C (the red curve in the following figure).

As of September 9, 2009, the typical cost of building a CSP plant was around US$2.5 to US$4 per watt,[131]​ while the fuel (radiation from the sun) is free. In this way, building a 250 MW CSP plant would cost between US$600 and 1 billion. This means between US$0.12 to US$0.18/kWh.[131] New CSP plants can be economically competitive when compared to fossil fuels. Nathaniel Bullard"), a solar analyst working for Bloomberg New Energy Finance"), has estimated that the cost of electricity produced by the Ivanpah Solar Power Plant"), a project under construction in Southern California, will be lower than that of a photovoltaic plant and about the same as a natural gas plant.[132]​

However, in November 2011, Google announced that they would no longer invest in CSP projects due to the rapidly declining costs of solar photovoltaics. Google spent US$168 million on the BrightSource project").[133]​[134]​ IRENA published a series of studies in June 2012 titled: "Analysis of the Cost of Renewable Energy". The CSP study shows the cost of both building and operating CSP plants. Costs are expected to decrease, but there are insufficient installations to clearly determine the learning curve. As of March 2012, there are installed 1.9 GW of CSP plants, with 1.8 GW being parabolic cylindrical.[135]​.

Spain

The generation of electricity using solar thermal sources is eligible for feed-in tariff payments (art. 2 RD 661/2007), if the system capacity does not exceed the following limits:

Since January 27, 2012, Spain has stopped accepting new feed-in tariff projects.[137]​[138]​ Currently accepted projects are not affected, except that a 6% feed-in tariff tax has been adopted, effectively reducing the feed-in tariff.[139]​.

Australia

At the federal level, in the context of the Large-scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET), operating under the Renewable Energy Electricity Act 2000 (Cth), large-scale solar thermal electricity generation by accredited RET plants may be eligible for Large-scale Generation Certificates. LGC). These certificates can then be sold or transferred to responsible entities (usually retail electricity sellers) to fulfill their obligations under this tradable certificate scheme. However, as this legislation is neutral in terms of the technology used in its operation, it tends to favor more established renewable resource technologies with a lower standardized generation cost, such as onshore wind installations, rather than solar thermal and CSP technologies.[140]​.

At the state level, renewable energy feed-in laws are typically limited by maximum generation capacity in kWp, and are open only to micro- and medium-scale generation and in a number of cases are only open to photovoltaic generation. This means that large-scale CSP projects would not be eligible for feed-in incentive payments in many state or territory jurisdictions.

A study by Greenpeace International, the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association and the International Energy Agency's SolarPACES group investigated the potential and future of concentrated solar energy. The study found that concentrated solar energy could account for up to 25% of global energy needs by 2050. The increase in investment in that time would be from €2 billion to €92.5 billion.[141]​

Spain is the leader in concentrated solar energy technology, with more than 50 projects in development approved by the government. Also, it exports its technology, further increasing its share of this technology worldwide. Because this technology works best in areas with high insolation (solar radiation), experts predict the biggest growth will be in places like Africa, Mexico and the southwestern United States. It indicates that thermal storage systems based on nitrates (calcium, potassium, sodium, etc.) will make CSP plants increasingly more profitable. The study examined three different outcomes of this technology: no increase in CSP technology, the continuation of investments as has been made in Spain and the United States, and finally the true potential of CSP without any barriers to its growth. The findings of the third part are shown in the following table:

Finally, the study recognizes that the technology for CSP has been improving and how this would result in a drastic reduction in costs by 2050. It predicts a drop from the current range of between €0.23–0.15/kWh to €0.14–0.10/kWh.[141] Recently the European Union has begun to focus on the development of a solar power grid worth €400 billion (US$774 billion). based in the Sahara region using CSP technology known as Desertec, to create "a new carbon-free network linking Europe, the Middle East and North Africa." The plan is backed mainly by German industrialists and predicts the production of 15% of Europe's energy by 2050. Morocco is one of Desertec's main partners and, having just 1% of the European Union's consumption, will produce more than enough energy for the entire country with large excesses that will be sent to Europe.[142]​.

Algeria has the largest desert area and an Algerian private firm has signed to participate in the Desertec project.[142]​ With its large desert area (the highest CSP potential in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions - about 170 TWh/year) and with its strategic geographical location near Europe it is one of the key countries to ensure the success of the Desertec project. In addition, there is an abundant reserve of natural gas in the Algerian desert, this will strengthen Algeria's technical potential to acquire hybrid solar and gas plants for 24-hour electricity generation.

Other organizations expect CSP to cost US$0.06/kWh by 2015 due to improvements in efficiency and mass production of equipment.[143] That would make CSP as cheap as conventional energy production. Investors such as venture capitalist Vinod Khosla expect CSP to continually reduce its costs and eventually become cheaper than coal-fired power generation after 2015.[144]

On September 9, 2009, Bill Weihl, Google.org's renewable energy spokesperson, said the company was conducting research on heliostat mirror and gas turbine technology, and he expects solar thermal electric power costs to fall to less than US$0.05/kWh in 2 to 3 years.[131]

In 2009, scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and SkyFuel teamed up to develop large curved metal sheets that have the potential to be 30% less expensive than the best solar collectors by replacing glass-based models with a silver polymer sheet that has the same performance as heavy glass mirrors, but at a much lower cost and weight. They are also much easier to deploy and install. Glossy film uses several layers of polymers, with an inner layer of pure silver.

Telescope designer Roger Angel of the University of Arizona has turned his attention to concentrated photovoltaics (CPV), and is a partner in a company called Rhnu. Angel uses spherical concentrator lenses based on large telescope technology, but with much cheaper materials and mechanisms, to create more efficient systems.[145]​.

There are several proposals for installations capable of generating power on the order of gigawatts, or very large solar plants. These include the Desertec Euro-Mediterranean proposal, the Helios Project in Greece (10 GW), and Ordos in China (2 GW).

A 2003 study concluded that the world could generate 2,357,840 TWh each year using very large solar plants that would occupy 1% of the world's deserts. Total world consumption is 15,223 TWh/year[146]​ (this calculated for the year 2003).

Megawatt-sized projects are sets of unitary plants. The largest unitary plant in operation is 80 MW (SEGS VIII and SEGS IX) and the largest unitary plant under construction is 370 MW (Ivanpah Solar Plant), California). In 2012, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) made available a total of 39,627,251 hectares of land in the southwestern United States for use in projects solar, enough to generate between 10,000 and 20,000 GW.[147]​.

Contenido

La CSP es usada para producir electricidad (algunas veces llamada termoelectricidad solar, usualmente generada mediante vapor). Los sistemas tecnológicos de concentración solar usando espejos o lentes con sistemas de seguimiento del sol para enfocar una gran área de incidencia de radiación solar sobre una pequeña superficie. Luego la luz concentrada es usada como fuente de calor para una central de energía eléctrica. Los concentradores solares usados en los sistemas CSP a menudo pueden ser usados para proporcionar refrigeración o calefacción industrial.

Las tecnologías de concentración existen en cuatro formas comunes, cilíndrico parabólico"), discos Stirling, reflector fresnel lineal compacto") y torre de energía solar.[11]​ Aunque simples, estos concentradores solares están lejos de la capacidad de concentración máxima.[12]​[13]​ Por ejemplo, la concentración cilíndrico parabólica logra 1/3 del máximo teórico para el ángulo de aceptación&action=edit&redlink=1 "Ángulo de aceptación (concentrador solar) (aún no redactado)") de diseño, esto es, para la misma tolerancia total para ese sistema. Se puede lograr una aproximación al máximo teórico usando concentradores más elaborados basados en óptica no formadora de imágenes.

Diferentes tipos de concentradores producen diferentes temperaturas máximas con sus correspondientes eficiencias termodinámicas, debido a las diferencias en la forma en que ellos siguen al sol y enfocan la luz. Nuevas innovaciones en la tecnología CSP están llevando a que los sistemas sean más y más costo-efectivos.[14]​.

Parabolic cylindrical solar concentrator

A parabolic cylindrical solar concentrator consists of a linear parabolic reflector that concentrates light onto a receiver positioned along the focal line of the reflector. The receiver is a tube positioned directly above the middle of the parabolic mirror and is filled with a working fluid. The reflector follows the sun during daylight hours on a single axis. A working fluid (for example, molten salt[15]​) is heated to a temperature between 150–350 °C when it flows through the receiver and then this is used as a heat source to be used in a generating system.[16]​ Cylindrical systems are the most developed CSP technology. The Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) plants in California, the first parabolic trough plants in the world, Acciona's Nevada Solar One located near Boulder City, Nevada "Boulder City (Nevada)") and Andasol, the first parabolic trough plant in Europe, are typical, along with the SSPS-DCS Tabernas Solar Platform test facilities located in Spain.[17]​.

Closed cylinder systems are used to produce process heating. The design encapsulates the solar thermal system inside a glass building like a greenhouse. The building creates a protected environment that can withstand the onslaught of elements that can negatively affect the reliability and efficiency of the solar thermal system.[18] Lightweight curved mirrors that reflect the sun are suspended using cables from the roof of the glass building. A single-axis tracking system positions the mirrors to recover the optimal amount of sunlight. The mirrors concentrate sunlight and focus it onto a fixed network of steel pipes, which are also suspended from the glass building structure.[19] Water is transported through the pipes where it is brought to the boiling point and generate steam using the solar radiation concentrated by the mirrors. Protecting the mirrors from the wind allows them to achieve higher temperatures and prevents dust from accumulating on the mirrors.[18]​.

Fresnel reflectors

Fresnel reflectors are made of many strips of thin, flat mirrors that concentrate sunlight onto tubes into which the working fluid is pumped. Flat mirrors allow more reflective surface area in the same amount of space as a parabolic reflector, thus capturing more of the available sunlight, and are cheaper than parabolic reflectors. Fresnel reflectors can be used in CSPs of various sizes.[20]​[21]​.

Stirling Disc

A Stirling dish or dish motor system consists of a single parabolic reflector that concentrates light onto a receiver positioned at the focal point of the reflector. The reflector follows the Sun in two axes. The working fluid in the receiver is heated to between 250 and 700 °C and is then used by a Stirling engine to generate electricity. Parabolic dish systems provide the highest efficiency among CSP technologies, between 31% to 32%, and their modular nature provides them with scalability. The companies Stirling Energy Systems (SES) and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) have disks at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and at the Australian National University (the Big Dish&action=edit&redlink=1 "The Big Dish (solar thermal) (not yet redacted)") in Canberra, Australia) and are examples of this technology. The world record for conversion efficiency to electricity was set in 2008 at 31.25% by SES disks at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility. The SES facility in Maricopa, Arizona was the largest Stirling disk facility in the world until it was sold to United Sun Systems, which is moving large portions of the facilities. to China as part of the effort to meet this country's enormous energy needs.[22]​.

central tower solar power plant

A central tower solar power plant consists of a set of reflectors (heliostats) with tracking capacity in two axes, which concentrate sunlight on a central receiver installed on a tower; The receiver contains a fluid stored in a reservoir, which may be seawater. This working fluid contained in the receiver is heated to between 500–1000 °C and is then used as a heat source for power generation or for a heat storage system.[16] The development of central tower solar plants is less advanced than cylindrical systems, but they offer higher efficiency and better energy storage capacity. The Solar Dos project located in Daggett"), California and the CESA-1 located in Plataforma Solar de Almería, Almería, Spain, are the most typical demonstration plants of this technology. The Planta Solar 10 (PS10) plant located in Sanlúcar la Mayor, Spain, is the first central tower solar plant for commercial purposes in the world. The 5 MW Sierra SunTower" plant from the company eSolar"), located in Lancaster, California "Lancaster (California)"), is the only central tower facility operating in North America. The National Solar Thermal Test Facility[23]​ located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is an experimental solar thermal plant with an installed surface of heliostats capable of producing 6 MW.

Commercial installations of CSP plants began around 1984 in the United States with the SEGS plants until 1990 when the last SEGS plant was completed. From 1991 to 2006 no CSP plant was built in the world.

For solar thermodynamic systems, the maximum sun-to-work efficiency (for example: electricity) can be deduced by considering both the properties of thermal radiation and the second law of thermodynamics (or Carnot's principle).[130] Indeed, solar irradiation must first be converted into heat using a solar receiver with an efficiency ; This heat is then converted into work with a thermodynamic or Carnot efficiency. Hence, for a solar receiver that provides a heat source at a temperature T and a heat dissipation at a temperature T° (for example: atmosphere at T° = 300 K):.

For a solar flux I (for example: I = 1000 W/m²) concentrated C times with an efficiency in a solar receiver system with an area A and an absorbance:.

For simplicity, one can assume that the losses are solely due to radiation (a correct assumption for high temperatures), and so for a reradiation area A and an emissivity applying the performances indicated by the Stefan-Boltzmann law:.

Simplifying these equations by considering perfect optics (= 1), equal collection and irradiation areas and maximum absorbance and emissivity (= 1, = 1) then substituting into the first equation what gives.

One can see that the efficiency does not simply increase monotonically with receiver temperature. In fact, the higher the temperature, the higher the thermodynamic efficiency, but the lower the receiver efficiency. Hence, the maximum achievable temperature (that is, when the efficiency of the receiver is zero, the blue curve in the figure) is:

There is a temperature T for which the efficiency is maximum, when the efficiency derived in relation to the receiver temperature is zero:.

Therefore, this leads us to the following equation:

Solving this equation numerically allows us to obtain the optimal temperature of the process according to the proportion of the solar concentration C (the red curve in the following figure).

As of September 9, 2009, the typical cost of building a CSP plant was around US$2.5 to US$4 per watt,[131]​ while the fuel (radiation from the sun) is free. In this way, building a 250 MW CSP plant would cost between US$600 and 1 billion. This means between US$0.12 to US$0.18/kWh.[131] New CSP plants can be economically competitive when compared to fossil fuels. Nathaniel Bullard"), a solar analyst working for Bloomberg New Energy Finance"), has estimated that the cost of electricity produced by the Ivanpah Solar Power Plant"), a project under construction in Southern California, will be lower than that of a photovoltaic plant and about the same as a natural gas plant.[132]​

However, in November 2011, Google announced that they would no longer invest in CSP projects due to the rapidly declining costs of solar photovoltaics. Google spent US$168 million on the BrightSource project").[133]​[134]​ IRENA published a series of studies in June 2012 titled: "Analysis of the Cost of Renewable Energy". The CSP study shows the cost of both building and operating CSP plants. Costs are expected to decrease, but there are insufficient installations to clearly determine the learning curve. As of March 2012, there are installed 1.9 GW of CSP plants, with 1.8 GW being parabolic cylindrical.[135]​.

Spain

The generation of electricity using solar thermal sources is eligible for feed-in tariff payments (art. 2 RD 661/2007), if the system capacity does not exceed the following limits:

Since January 27, 2012, Spain has stopped accepting new feed-in tariff projects.[137]​[138]​ Currently accepted projects are not affected, except that a 6% feed-in tariff tax has been adopted, effectively reducing the feed-in tariff.[139]​.

Australia

At the federal level, in the context of the Large-scale Renewable Energy Target (LRET), operating under the Renewable Energy Electricity Act 2000 (Cth), large-scale solar thermal electricity generation by accredited RET plants may be eligible for Large-scale Generation Certificates. LGC). These certificates can then be sold or transferred to responsible entities (usually retail electricity sellers) to fulfill their obligations under this tradable certificate scheme. However, as this legislation is neutral in terms of the technology used in its operation, it tends to favor more established renewable resource technologies with a lower standardized generation cost, such as onshore wind installations, rather than solar thermal and CSP technologies.[140]​.

At the state level, renewable energy feed-in laws are typically limited by maximum generation capacity in kWp, and are open only to micro- and medium-scale generation and in a number of cases are only open to photovoltaic generation. This means that large-scale CSP projects would not be eligible for feed-in incentive payments in many state or territory jurisdictions.

A study by Greenpeace International, the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association and the International Energy Agency's SolarPACES group investigated the potential and future of concentrated solar energy. The study found that concentrated solar energy could account for up to 25% of global energy needs by 2050. The increase in investment in that time would be from €2 billion to €92.5 billion.[141]​

Spain is the leader in concentrated solar energy technology, with more than 50 projects in development approved by the government. Also, it exports its technology, further increasing its share of this technology worldwide. Because this technology works best in areas with high insolation (solar radiation), experts predict the biggest growth will be in places like Africa, Mexico and the southwestern United States. It indicates that thermal storage systems based on nitrates (calcium, potassium, sodium, etc.) will make CSP plants increasingly more profitable. The study examined three different outcomes of this technology: no increase in CSP technology, the continuation of investments as has been made in Spain and the United States, and finally the true potential of CSP without any barriers to its growth. The findings of the third part are shown in the following table:

Finally, the study recognizes that the technology for CSP has been improving and how this would result in a drastic reduction in costs by 2050. It predicts a drop from the current range of between €0.23–0.15/kWh to €0.14–0.10/kWh.[141] Recently the European Union has begun to focus on the development of a solar power grid worth €400 billion (US$774 billion). based in the Sahara region using CSP technology known as Desertec, to create "a new carbon-free network linking Europe, the Middle East and North Africa." The plan is backed mainly by German industrialists and predicts the production of 15% of Europe's energy by 2050. Morocco is one of Desertec's main partners and, having just 1% of the European Union's consumption, will produce more than enough energy for the entire country with large excesses that will be sent to Europe.[142]​.

Algeria has the largest desert area and an Algerian private firm has signed to participate in the Desertec project.[142]​ With its large desert area (the highest CSP potential in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions - about 170 TWh/year) and with its strategic geographical location near Europe it is one of the key countries to ensure the success of the Desertec project. In addition, there is an abundant reserve of natural gas in the Algerian desert, this will strengthen Algeria's technical potential to acquire hybrid solar and gas plants for 24-hour electricity generation.

Other organizations expect CSP to cost US$0.06/kWh by 2015 due to improvements in efficiency and mass production of equipment.[143] That would make CSP as cheap as conventional energy production. Investors such as venture capitalist Vinod Khosla expect CSP to continually reduce its costs and eventually become cheaper than coal-fired power generation after 2015.[144]

On September 9, 2009, Bill Weihl, Google.org's renewable energy spokesperson, said the company was conducting research on heliostat mirror and gas turbine technology, and he expects solar thermal electric power costs to fall to less than US$0.05/kWh in 2 to 3 years.[131]

In 2009, scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and SkyFuel teamed up to develop large curved metal sheets that have the potential to be 30% less expensive than the best solar collectors by replacing glass-based models with a silver polymer sheet that has the same performance as heavy glass mirrors, but at a much lower cost and weight. They are also much easier to deploy and install. Glossy film uses several layers of polymers, with an inner layer of pure silver.

Telescope designer Roger Angel of the University of Arizona has turned his attention to concentrated photovoltaics (CPV), and is a partner in a company called Rhnu. Angel uses spherical concentrator lenses based on large telescope technology, but with much cheaper materials and mechanisms, to create more efficient systems.[145]​.

There are several proposals for installations capable of generating power on the order of gigawatts, or very large solar plants. These include the Desertec Euro-Mediterranean proposal, the Helios Project in Greece (10 GW), and Ordos in China (2 GW).

A 2003 study concluded that the world could generate 2,357,840 TWh each year using very large solar plants that would occupy 1% of the world's deserts. Total world consumption is 15,223 TWh/year[146]​ (this calculated for the year 2003).

Megawatt-sized projects are sets of unitary plants. The largest unitary plant in operation is 80 MW (SEGS VIII and SEGS IX) and the largest unitary plant under construction is 370 MW (Ivanpah Solar Plant), California). In 2012, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) made available a total of 39,627,251 hectares of land in the southwestern United States for use in projects solar, enough to generate between 10,000 and 20,000 GW.[147]​.