Concentrating Solar Power

Several approaches to concentrating solar power systems are reviewed. With the current heightened interest in renewable energies, terrestrial locations where concentration can be used effectively will potentially benefit from a large number of new systems on the market, as well as the enhancement of technologies that have been applied previously. Included are both thermal-based systems and photovoltaic (PV) systems. In this summary, several categories of concentrating technologies of current interest are discussed as are storage issues. Tradeoffs between the different approaches are noted, and some prospects for the future are hypothesized.