The Oil Drum presents a useful overview of the promise and prospects of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) generating plants. The reports come for European sources but include much US information. The promise of CSP:
Every year, each square kilometre of hot desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil. Multiplying by the area of deserts worldwide, this is several hundred times the entire current energy consumption of the world.
The report provides promising info about the cost of CSP generated electricity:
The cost of collecting solar thermal energy equivalent to one barrel of oil is about US$50 right now (already less than the current world price of oil) and is likely to come down to around US$20 in the future.
Full copies of the referenced reports can be found at Trec-UK.
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