Prospects of solar thermal power generation projects

What are the future prospects of solar energy?

4. Future prospects of solar technology Solar energy is one of the best options to meet future energy demand since it is superior in terms of availability, cost effectiveness, accessibility, capacity, and efficiency compared to other renewable energy sources , .

What is the future of solar energy?

The Future of Solar Energy considers only the two widely recognized classes of technologies for converting solar energy into electricity — photovoltaics (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP), sometimes called solar thermal) — in their current and plausible future forms.

Are solar thermal power plants the future of energy?

With approximately six gigawatts of installed capacity worldwide in 2020, solar thermal power plants are still at the beginning of their market introduction, comparable to photovol-taics 15 years ago or wind energy 25 years ago.

Why are solar thermal power plants important?

Since solar thermal power plants can feed their electricity into the power grid even after sunset, they are of particular value for an energy system based on renewable energy sources. Solar thermal power plants are of strategic importance in sunny countries to be able to phase out coal and gas power plants in the future.

What are the emerging solar thermal technologies?

These emerging solar thermal technologies are: Electrical heat storage (including hot water tanks and compact heat stores, both residential scale and district heating scale) using the power from solar photovoltaics (on-site and/or off-site).

How many solar thermal systems will be installed in 2020?

Learn more about the report and explore the TCPs. Worldwide, dwellings using solar thermal technologies for water heating reached 250 million in 2020. To achieve the milestone of 400 million dwellings by 2030 in the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario (NZE Scenario), 290 million new solar thermal systems will need to be installed this decade.