[motivation] - principle - concentrator - stirling enginereceiver - costs & markets

Fig.1: The poor’s energy supply

This calls for the development and implemen-tation of renewable electrical energy systems especially for decentralized rural applications and for the demonstration of their technical performance, economical competitiveness, operational viability and environmental benefits, when compared to conventional fossil power plants and on-line extensions or isolated diesel mini-grids. Dish/Stirling systems have the potential of meeting these requirements in countries with intensive solar radiation.

Approximately 25% of the world’s population, those living in the industrialized countries, claim about 75% of its total energy consumption. Therefore the provision of energy and especially of electricity in the Third World countries will have to increase drastically during the next decades to improve their overall living standards through industrialization.
Many big cities there suffer from permanent power-cuts. Millions of villages have limited electrical supply with part-day diesel-operation generators, and about two billion people live without any electricity and its services today (Fig.1). Therefore there is a great need for more electricity, especially in regions where power grid infrastructure for distribution of electricity from large central power plants to local consumers does not exist. Further environmental concern about pollution and carbon dioxide generation is becoming more and more the driving force in the selection of suitable technologies for meeting this need.