Concentrated Solar Power

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Overview of Concentrated Solar Power

Concentrated Solar Power plants generate electricity by collecting incoming solar radiation and concentrating it into a small area to generate very high temperatures. The heat is then used to drive conventional (usually steam) generators in much the same way as current power plants do. A CSP plant can be divided into two basic sections 1) the Collector, which collects the incoming solar radiation and converts it to heat and 2) the Generator, which converts the collected heat into electricity. Most CSP technologies use very similar generators but there are currently three main collector technologies available.

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