A recent report by the environmental campaigners, Greenpeace has indicated that Concentrated Solar Power  could meet 25% of the worlds energy needs by the year 2050. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) uses mirrors to focus the suns rays, much like a satellite antenna, to heat water and generate steam. The steam is then used to drive turbines and thus electricity which is then fed into the Grid. The cooled steam is then returned to be reheated again in the system.

Concentrated solar power

These Solar power stations are most productive in countries close to the equator,  North Africa, Mexico, India and the Middle East where the weather allows a high number of sunny days per year. In addition ideally suited for areas of large desert to reduce environmental impact.
Using specific area of the world to produce electricity for the rest of us will bring great political challenges much like the current implications for Oil which is concentrated in a small number of regions.
In 2008 the Concentrated solar power generating capacity was around 430MW worldwide and still very small scale. With increasing investment and political will this could rise dramatically in to coming year to possibly reach the 25% mark which could reduce the CO2 emissions by 2.1 billion tonnes each year producing 1,500 Gigawatt of electricity.
Initial costs are always an important factor and with all new technologies it does take time to reduce  these to levels that are competitive with current forms of energy production. Many governments have eased this cost by introducing feed-in-tariffs that makes investment more desirable.
Leading the way are countries like Spain, where the government has approved more than 50 solar farms which by 2015 could generate up to 2 Gigawatts of clean energy from Concentrated Solar Power.

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