Disruptive Technologies Accelerating the Growth of Concentrated Solar Power

Disruptive Technologies Accelerating the Growth of Concentrated Solar Power

This research service focuses on new and disruptive technologies in the concentrated solar power (CSP) industry. Solar energy technology has witnessed consistent improvements in terms of energy and cost efficiency. While solar photovoltaics is currently the most widely adopted method of solar energy utilization, CSP technology has several features which make it an attractive alternative at the utility scale for energy generation and heating applications. The key advantage of a CSP system is its ability to store excess electricity in the form of thermal energy. CSP technologies generate electricity by utilizing mirrors to reflect, concentrate, and direct incident sunlight onto a specific point to create thermal energy. This thermal energy can then be either stored in thermal energy storage devices or used to create steam to drive turbines for electricity generation. This enables CSP to be the source of both electrical and thermal energy and find applications in heat recovery. However, despite the ability to offer better conversion efficiencies, the capital expenditure of CSP technology is hindering deployment.

This study provides the following:
• An overview of new and disruptive CSP technologies along with their benefits, drawbacks, and applications
• A comparison of different types of CSP technologies in terms of energy efficiency and overall costs
• A patent analysis of CSP technologies
• An analysis of the factors driving and restraining the growth of the CSP industry
• An analysis of the growth opportunities emerging in the CSP industry that stakeholders and market players can leverage


  • Strategic Imperatives
    • Why Is It Increasingly Difficult to Grow?
    • The Strategic Imperative 8™
    • The Impact of the Top 3 Strategic Imperatives on the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Industry
    • Growth Opportunities Fuel the Growth Pipeline Engine™
    • Research Methodology
  • Growth Opportunity Analysis
    • Scope of Analysis
    • Segmentation of CSP
    • Growth Drivers Enhancing the Adoption of CSP
    • Growth Restraints Hindering the Adoption of CSP
  • Technology Snapshot
    • CSP Adoption Likely to Increase, Driven by Performance Parameters Superior to that of PVs
    • CLFR Systems Likely to be the Prominent CSP Technology in the Coming Years
    • TES and Green Hydrogen to Pave the Way for a Zero-emission Future
    • Global Status of Solar Energy Generation Technologies
    • Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) Comparison of Various Renewable Energy Generation Technologies
    • Total Capital Costs and LCOE Trends for CSP
    • Total Installed Costs by Components: Types of CSP Plants, 2021
    • Total Operations & Maintenance Costs for CSP by Region
  • Innovation Ecosystem: Companies to Watch
    • Cost Competitive Solar Tower Power Plants Using Heliostats to Generate Renewable Solar Power
    • Next-generation Parabolic-trough-based CSP with High Optical Efficiency
    • AI-powered Solar Tower Power Plants for Renewable Energy and Industrial-grade Heat Generation
    • Linear Fresnel Collectors for Air Conditioning and Industrial Heating Applications
    • Molten-salt-based CSP Tower Plants that Convert Direct Normal Irradiation to Renewable Energy
    • Parabolic Solar Collectors for Generating Heat used for Industrial Processes
    • Paraboloidal Solar Collectors with High Solar-to-Electric Conversion Efficiency
  • Regulatory Landscape and IP Analysis
    • United States Leads in CSP R&D Activity as of 2021
  • Growth Opportunity Universe
    • Growth Opportunity 1: Integration of Molten-salt-based TES
    • Growth Opportunity 2: R&D Investments and Partnerships
    • Growth Opportunity 3: Integration of CSP with High-temperature Hydrogen Production Technologies
  • Appendix
    • Technology Readiness Levels (TRL): Explanation
  • Next Steps
    • Your Next Steps
    • Why Frost, Why Now?

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