Concentrated Solar Power: Components and materials

— CSP technologies are well developed and offer many advantages compared to other renewable energy options. They can also be very effective in many locations with high solar radiation around the world. However today they are less competitive than other technologies. Understanding the limitations, and identifying opportunities for improvements, requires a detailed analysis of the energy conversion processes, the needed components, and the required technologies for these plant components. Here we present the three main energy conversion steps in a CSP plant, the behavior and limitations of the technologies that are currently used in commercial CSP plants, and some directions for development of plant components that will offer better performance.