Summary of the Session by the Rapporteur

Abstract

At the beginning of the “Small Solar Power Systems—Project Definition Phase,” the conditions for solar thermal power generation were favorable:

• Further increase of energy consumption and the foreseen exhaustion of mineral oil, presently the main energy source, made people conscious of the limits of energy supply and initiated the demand for the exploration and utilization of new and inexhaustible energy sources.

• Due to price escalations, particularly on the crude oil market, high investments in power production by solar systems appeared competitive in the foreseeable future.

• Supplying developing countries with energy for industrialization and for improving living conditions seemed only to be assured from novel energy sources, because the increasing living expenses for importing fossil were quickly exhausting the capabilities of Third World economies.

• Furthermore, aspects of conservation spurred the efforts to investigate solar energy as a desirable alternative.