CSP plants have never gotten beyond the prototype phase because no one has figured out how to make them economically viable. One near me in California just shu

CSP plants have never gotten beyond the prototype phase because no one has figured out how to make them economically viable. One near me in California just shut down because maintenance costs were skyrocketing. Batteries, in their current form, have all sorts of issues that haven't made them economically viable either. Liquid electrolytes (liquid batteries) do show promise for grid level storage, and I am pleased to see lots of activity around them but we are still probably 5-10 years away from anything worth scaling up around. Hot water is fine for extreme micro uses - individual buildings - but again not even remotely viable for something at scale, let alone replacing base load generation for the grid. Base load is the real nut to crack - and so far solar is no where near being anything but a nice supplement for base load.