Prospect of concentrating solar power in China—the sustainable future

Limited fossil resources and severe environmental problems require new sustainable electricity generation options, which utilize renewable energies and are economical in the meantime. Concentrating solar power (CSP) generation is a proven renewable energy technology and has the potential to become cost-effective in the future, for it produces electricity from the solar radiation. In China, the electricity demand is rapidly increasing, while the solar resources and large wasteland areas are widely available in the western and northern part of China. To change the energy-intensive and environment-burdensome economical development way, Chinese government supports the development of this technology strongly. These factors altogether make China a suitable country for utilizing CSP technology. In this paper, the potential of CSP in China was studied and strategies to promote development of this technology were given.