The potential for solar system is enormous, foe instance, it is estimated that about 1% of the area of sahara Desert covered with solar thermal power plant would theoretically be sufficient to meet the entire global demand of electrical energy , therefor the solar thermal power system will play an important rule in the global future electricity supply, the largest cost involve in solar thermal power plant is the initial capital cost to build the plant rather than operating costs.solar thermal plant have the added advantages over photovoltaic electric generation in that it is possible to generate electricity during unfavorable weather and its at night using heat exchange system the vast amount of heat transfer fluid circulating in the solar field already represent a considerable storage capacity which can bridge short term cloudy case.
however ,due to poor part load behavior of solar thermal power , such power plant should been installed in region with a minimum of around 2000 full load hours . this is the case in region with direct normal irradiance of more than 2000kwh/meter square ,these irradiance values can be found in the earth sunbelt, thermal storage can increase thes number of full load hours significantly.
