State of the Art on Small-Scale Concentrated Solar Power Plants

Many efforts have been spent in the design and development of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Plants worldwide. Most of them are for on-grid electricity generation and they are medium or large plants (in the order of MWs) which can benefit from the economies of scale.Nevertheless, several potential applications for Small-Scale CSP plants (< 1 MW) can be relevant in the industrial sector as well as for off-grid purposes (i.e. in rural contexts).This paper presents the technologies suitable for off-grid applications, for electricity or cogenerated production. Major characteristics are illustrated and advantages and drawbacks for each configuration identified and discussed.