Could concentrated solar thermal generate 25% of world power by 2050?

Realistically? Don't ask me that. I'm a pessimist. To many political problems.

Optimistically? Close to 100%. Easy. It's just a matter of will.

Balancing the two, 25% seems reasonable. But we are soon going to realize that 25% won't be enough.

We need to do something like this -

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a...

- and we need to start now.

15 cents / kwh is still pretty high. Definitely going to need some government incentives for this, it could never compete with coal on purely economic grounds.

I do like the idea of the ability to use hybrid plants though. It almost seems like some engineer could be crazy enough to supplement an existing coal fired power plant with some form of CSP technology, adding energy in a way that it would "help" heat the water and thus reduce coal consumption.

Of course I'm walking in the clouds right now and have no idea if a project like that would be even remotely possible. The only way it would work is if the costs from the retrofit are not higher than the savings offered by not building the full blown water-to-steam CSP plant. Seems like the retrofit could be done with just a few pipes and pumps though...

It's possible. CSP is just another name for solar thermal power, using mirrors to concentrate sunlight to heat a substance until it boils, then using the steam to turn a turbine to produce electricity. I've read claims that solar thermal gets about 48% efficiency (first link) since it uses both the heat and light in sunlight, while PV cells only harness the light. Ausra and other companies claim their plants will eventually provide electricity at the same price as coal-fired plants thought that may be based on coal plants being charged a carbon tax that solar plants are immune from. Obviously deserts are ideal for this as they get lots of sunlight and nobody's view is spoiled if empty desert is covered with equipment and your peak generating times closely coincide with peak usage times. You can also store energy for later use by creating hydrogen or by storing the heat itself in molten salt or other method..

Innovative ideas like using magnetism to provide cooling may cut the energy use of the average US household as well

Japan and at least one US company plan to launch solar power satellites into orbit soon and those are much more efficient than any ground-based system. Most sunlight is diffused and filtered by the time it reaches the surface so a satellite in geosynchronous orbit not only gets raw sunlight but it gets it 24/7 with no cloudy days. A few of those would ensure you always have some providing energy and the power is sent to Earth in a microwave beam only 1/6th as powerful as the noon-day sun.

Both solar thermal and solar power satellites are so cost-intensive they would need either government support if not direct funding. Private capital could do it but a few government-funded trial plants would speed the process. The main drawback is that either idea presupposes a government that can make rational decisions and that's rarely been the case and politicians are prone to listen to whoever gives them the most financial support. Modern nuclear power plants could be used to supplement either method.

Part of the problem is that wind farms, solar plants and other renewable sources get lawsuits blocking them nearly as fast as nuclear power plant applications get blocked. As long as that continues few companies are going to find enough venture capital to proceed.

Realistically, maybe you would hit the 25 to 30% mark.

What we need to do is hit about 75 to 90% by 2050, and even if we do that now, there is still going to be some nasty climate change in store for us.

When you consider geo thermal, gas fired, and CSP projects could wrest 90% from coal fired generation within 30 years, given the right political climate, enough pressure from voters, and some powerful lawsuits against coal-fired power generation supply companies for myriad "crimes against humanity, (and ALL mammalian lifeforms, plus some...)

The time has come, now, when people must choose. If we leave these criminals in power, or at home resting after their crimes, like Bush, Blair, and Howard, we, the people, are stuffed. That includes all the generations that follow us.

If applied correctly, the American desert states and Mexico could be the next centre of North American power generation. Between using the sun for concentrated solar thermal and production of algae for oil, this region could become very rich from solar power. It just baffles me as to why so many are against home grown power that's both clean and eliminates importation of fossil fuel from nations and peoples that threaten them.

Between nuclear, concentrated solar thermal, wind, Canada's hydro power capacity and sodium sulfide batteries http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMateria... , North America's power requirements could be easily met. We just need the collective will to do it.

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Realistically, how much of the world's power do you think CSP can generate by 2050?

5% tops. Are we to shut down when it rains?

Not with Dianne Feinsteins in the world. She stopped them being build in the most barren empty desert in the US for bogus reasons and pandering to leftist political groups. They also block new wind turbines and nuclear plants. All you get from leftists is poverty and empty promises..

CSP is a money pit. A true cuckoo's nest!