According to market research firm PikeResearch, the global market size of concentrated solar power generation (CSP) technology will surge from $2.1 billion in 2012 to $5.1 billion in 2013. The United States will continue to maintain its industry position through a series of technological developments.

　　In May, 3M's renewable energy department and GossamerSpaceFrames jointly announced a new parabolic trough type heat collector designed to reduce CSP installation costs and increase production capacity.

　　The characteristic of the Large Aperture Slot Type 73 (LAT73) is that it has a collection factor of over 100 times and a hole size of 7.3 meters, reaching a length of 192 meters. It is composed of 16 12 meter long components, with a total collection area of 1400m2. The company stated that this system can reduce the installation cost of parabolic trough solar power plants by more than 25%, which will increase the competitiveness of CSP technology compared to solar cell technology (PV).

　　Glenn Reynolds, CEO and co founder of GossamerSpaceFrames, said that many people believe that "CSP technology cannot be reborn," but LAT73 proves that this view is wrong.

　　The large-scale commercial CSP projects under construction in the United States include two 280MW projects (namely, a thermal storage collector in Solana, Arizona and a collector in the Mojave Desert of California), as well as the world's largest ongoing solar facility, BrightSource's 392MW Ivanpah Central Collector Tower project in the Mojave Desert of California.

　　BrightSource also has a 29MW solar steam demonstration device, which has nearly 4000 software controlled solar reflectors and a 327ft high boiler tower. The device is used by Chevron to increase its oil recovery rate in California's Coringa oilfield. The generated high-temperature and high-pressure steam is injected into the reservoir to reduce the viscosity of the oil layer and improve oil recovery. This device indicates that the CSP device can be used as a non emission auxiliary measure for extracting other energy sources.

　　SolarReserve's 110MW project called Crescent Dunes is scheduled to be completed in late 2013 and is located in the Tonopah area of Nevada. This project has significant milestone significance in the history of large-scale application of solar molten salt heat storage central heating tower technology. This project will be the first commercial scale solar tower in the United States to adopt integrated heat storage technology, and it will also be the largest of its kind in the world. This dwarfs the world's first commercial device to use central heating tower molten salt heat storage technology - the 19.9MWGemsolar device located near Seville, Spain.

　　The Crescent Dunes project will be constructed, operated, and owned by Tonopah Solar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SolarReserve. The project will utilize molten salt heat storage technology developed by Pratt&Whitney Rocketdyne and exclusively owned globally. The solar collector located at the top of the 653ft tower will collect solar energy from a 1600 acre solar reflector. After heating the molten salt to above 1000F, it will be circulated in the heat collection device and stored in a large insulated tank, which can be used to drive traditional steam turbines for power generation when needed.

　　Gemsolar's solar storage system can maintain power supply for up to 15 hours without solar input, while the Crescent Dunes project will ensure 24-hour power supply, helping to improve grid stability.

　　Pratt&Whitney Rocketdyne stated that their "cutting-edge engineering experience" is key to developing long-term thermal storage and 24-hour distribution systems. Randy Parsley, Renewable Energy Director and Project Manager at Pratt&Whitney, said, "With this tower, the temperature can be raised to 1050F, while using a heat sink device may only reach around 750F

　　It is precisely this difference in peak temperature of molten salt that brings huge economic benefits, which can increase the heat storage capacity of molten salt by four times. When combining molten salt heat storage with heat collection tank technology, it also involves the additional cost of changing the heat exchange medium from oil to salt.

　　SolarReserve promises that the project will achieve highly controllable energy supply, with an energy availability rate of 95%, a deployable rate of 100%, and an annual power supply of 500000 MWh, far exceeding GemaSolar's supply capacity of 110000 MWh.

　　The solar energy program of the US Department of Energy will continue to promote innovation in CSP technology, and recognize the high-temperature operation performance of collectors and dry cooling technology as important development goals. This plan provides approximately 40 companies and universities related to CSP technology research with funding support of $50 million or more annually.