Solar thermal: Technical challenges and solutions for power generation

Abstract

As the largest source of energy to the earth, solar is the promising source to meet the increasing demand of clean energy. The objective of the current paper is to briefly highlight the obstacles and challenges facing the utilization of solar energy in the energy transition initiative. The transition from fossil-based power to renewable based power is found to have not just technical problems as there are social, financial and investor concerns. The paper focuses on the technical problems and the possible solutions that has been achieved or under investigation to overcome the challenges in the solar technologies by the author and his research team in the solar thermal advanced research centre in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. Those achievements are part of the commitments of this solar research team for going heavily towards solar energization in the globe.