What are the environmental impacts of concentrating solar power plants (CSP)?
Concentrating solar power plants have few environmental impacts; land use is the primary one. Although a CSP plant’s “footprint,” or the amount of land it occupies, is larger than that of a fossil fuel plant, the two actually use about the same amount of land. This is true because fossil fuel plants require a significant amount of land for exploration, mining, and road-building purposes. And CSP plants have the advantage in that they produce no environmental contaminants or greenhouse gases. However, the fossil fuel component of a hybrid power plant does not have the same benefits.
