Solar Thermal: Not Gone, Not Forgotten

When I wrote Renewable Energy–Facts and Fantasies in 2010, solar thermal (aka concentrated solar power or CSP) was a big deal, largely because of the way it readily lent itself to solving the intermittency issue via energy storage as heat, in molten salt). For better or worse, it got shellacked by PV when the cost of silicon-based solar cells crashed around that same time.

This article suggests that improvements have been made in CSP that make it more competitive, perhaps even for smallish installations. Personally, I’m skeptical, but I thought I’d pass it along anyway.