High Concentration Solar Photovoltaic Thermal

A reader sent me this article of “high-concentration solar PV thermal” http://dailyfusion.net/2013/04/new-high-concentration-photovoltaic-thermal-system-will-collect-80-of-solar-energy-6391/ and asks: do you believe Concentrated Solar Power or ‘High Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal’ is still 30-40 years away?

I responded: “Obviously, we have CSP today.  I’m not exactly sure where it’s going technologically; I’m sure the efficiencies will climb over the coming years, and this will, I believe, make CSP competitive with other flavors of renewables.   I’m not sure about the other technology.  Even quadrupling the efficiency (~20% -> ~80%) of solar in a small, expensive device doesn’t seem too exciting to me.”

But I then realized that perhaps this isn’t fair.  Almost all new ideas are expensive when they’re first implemented.

I’d appreciate other viewpoints.

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