CSP: A Long-Term Solar Technology

In the race to achieve India's National Solar Mission (NSM) targets, one important solar technology is slowly disappearing. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), a solar thermal-based technology for power generation, which showed considerable technical potential, is being sidelined. It is losing out due to economics compared to its rival, solar photovoltaics (PV).

The cost differential between a 5 MW CSP plant and PV plant of the same capacity is around Rs 55 crore. However, CSP’s decline has been caused by multiple agents, and we try to shed some light on the key reasons.

This article also highlights the technical advantages of CSP over PV and the need for such a system to co-exist.