Concentrating solar technologies for low-carbon energy

Concentrating solar technologies (CSTs) can provide both electricity and process heat on a commercial scale. Although ~6.7 GW of concentrating solar power plants have been installed worldwide, providing electricity at costs close to US$0.10 kWhe−1, deployment of CST has not grown at the same rate as photovoltaic technologies. In this Review, we summarize the current state of technology and discuss limitations and further developments to reduce the levelized cost of electricity and heat. Integrating CST with low-cost thermal energy storage permits dispatchable, on-demand energy, which can be supplied even at low sunlight or at night. CST systems for temperatures up to 565 °C are already commercially available and are used for electricity production as well as for industrial processes and district heating. The development of new receivers that operate with high-temperature heat transfer media such as molten sodium or ceramic particles or the combination with advanced heat cycles introduces the next generation of CST. This technology can supply process heat at temperatures of up to 1,500 °C, permitting applications in high-temperature mineral processing and chemical synthesis, which would otherwise be difficult to defossilize through electrification alone. Concentrating solar technologies can be used to generate electricity and process heat from sunlight, with the capability to store energy for use at night or when insolation is low. This Review discusses the status and perspectives in different fields of applications, as well as options for technical improvements.