ABSTRACT
Concentrating solar power (CSP) systems work on a very different principle to PV. Instead of using light, CSP technologies capture the sun’s heat rays to create mechanical power, which nowadays is usually converted to electrical power. They have been around for a long time, as the nineteenth-century illustration in Figure 8.1 shows. There is a variety of technologies for converting the heat into useful power, including lenses, mirror shapes, sun-tracking methods and arrangements, but they all work on the same principle. Like a child using a lens to burn a hole in paper, they focus or concentrate the sun’s infrared frequencies, reaching temperatures of 200–1100ºC (392–2012ºF). This commonly gasifies a liquid to drive a motor, using the same principles as a steam engine or turbine.
