Comment Re:So which kind of solar is it? (Score 1) 191
> It is more expensive than PV
The proper comparison is to PV at the same installed capacity. Solar thermal started later, and therefore has had less of a learning curve. Also, heliostat mirrors are inherently cheaper than solar panels because a sheet of mirrored glass is simpler to make than a finished panel. Most of the cost comes from the steerable mount that aims the mirror at the tower, but there is a lot of room for improvement there.
> The number of birds incinerated
Could be reduced quite a bit with screens that keep them off the top of the tower. The problem is that birds like to perch on top of the tower, for the same reason they like to perch on trees and power lines. Unfortunately that is where all the mirrors point. Nobody compares the number of birds killed flying into windows or by cats (about a billion) to the number incinerated (hundreds? These plants are built in deserts, so there are not a lot of birds in the first place).
Current solar thermal plants don't use storage most of the time, since there are not enough of them to require it with the grid as a whole. For example, the 400 MW Ivanpah solar thermal plant is on the same power line as Boulder Dam. Ivanpah just displaces some of the water otherwise run through the dam, which can be used at other hours.