What is Extreme Concentrated Photovoltaics and how does it differ from Solar Thermal power?
Solar thermal systems use the heat from sunlight to heat a fluid, such as oil, which in turn is used to make steam, that then runs the same type of turbine generator used in conventional fossil fuel plants. These plants take a long time to build, are labor-intensive to run and maintain, and require large amounts of water to operate. XCPV systems convert sunlight directly to electricity, without any intermediate step. As such, they are not labor intensive to run or maintain, and do not require any additional resources other than sunlight to operate.
