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Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)

by 2030, the country will require 800,000 MW of electricity. Since climate change and other
environmental concerns have compelled policy planners to look for alternatives to fossil fuel,
they have announced an ambitious plan to generate 20,000 MW of electricity with the help of
solar power by 2022. In the new scenario, Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is seen as the holy
grail of energy security.
According to an estimate, 25,000 sq km of space is capable of generating enough electricity to
meet Indias present and future needs. This space is available in the deserts spread between
Rajasthan and western Gujarat. In fact, efforts are already underway to harness this abundant
power and seven companies have been awarded projects to set up CSP plants worth 370 MW. Of
these seven projects, five are in Rajasthan and one each in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

CSP explained
A CSP plant utilises solar power to generate electricity and resembles a conventional thermal
power plant in many ways. Bibek Bandopadhyay, scientist and advisor, Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy (MNRE) elaborates, A CSP is like a thermal power plant where huge
amount of energy is produced with the help of heat generation. The only difference being while
conventional thermal power plant uses coal or gas as raw material, in CSP, its the warmth of the
sun that powers the turbine.

Four basic types of solar collector systems for CSP
1. Parabolic trough collector system
2. Power tower system
3. Parabolic dish system
4. Fresnel reflectors