In this paper the technology for solar thermal electricity and process heat generation was presented. Both, distributed collector (trough) systems and central receiver (tower) systems,have the potential to reach economic competitiveness with other renewables like today’s very popular wind power. Levelized electricity costs of 0.14 Euro/kWhe are realized, costs of less than 0.1 Euro/kWhe in the solar belt may be reached after some second generation improvements. The high-voltage DC power transfer enables efficient power transport over some thousands of kilometers, e. g. from North Africa to Central Europe. Plant sizes are in the order of magnitude of some 10 MWe to 200 MWe. For distributed electricity generation in the order of some 10 kWe, the dish/stirling system was presented. Concerning process heat generation the great performance of parabolic trough collectors was
pointed out. For temperature levels over 75 °C and heat demands of some 100 kW, trough
systems show the lowest heat prices even in a central European climate. Nevertheless,
experiences with such systems are low and have to be increased before market penetration
occurs.