Summary
Yes CSP is clean, it uses small amounts of fresh water, it can be designed to be constant with the help of NG, but the economics are not there.
Analysis
The article refers to the history of CSP and the targeted uses which were solutions for the time and place. Is CSP the solution for this time and place, no, at least not yet. Quite frankly the economics are not there. Even with nationally imposed renewable energy requirements of 20% on present day utilities and a cap & trade system that causes a price to be levied on carbon the economics are not there. See the problem in a nutshell is that the plants are capital intensive therefore require an investor patient enough to wait for an extended payback period. The investors that can invest in such a commercial projects generally are managers of funds and they have a fiduciary duty to their clients to obtain returns that meet the standards acceptable to their clients. Currently CSP doesn't meet those standards.
Therefore for CSP to succeed it requires more than a national renewable energy standard, it requires taxpayer money. Currently in the USA with two offshore wars, a banking crisis and a global recession there just is no money for subsidizing CSP and quite likely any other renewable energy project. Therefore renewable energy projects must be targeted so specifically that they meet specific needs at an economic benefit. Once they achieve those successes then price points will come down and good economics will drive renewable energy projects like CSP.
