In a parabolic trough CSP system, the energy of the sun is concentrated into curved, trough-shaped mirrors set in parallel rows. The mirrors track the sun's course from east to west during the day, focusing the sun's energy onto receiver pipes. The pipes normally contains thermal oil, which heats up from around 293ºC to. Now that we've looked at the different concentrated solar power systems, let's look at why this form of energy generation is useful. 1. 1.1. CSP is. As with everything in life, there are some downsides to CSP. 1. It depends on location and needs a large area of land to operate, which makes it. There are various countries and locations around the world where CSP is already being used. In fact, there are around 130 CSPprojects globally, with. Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal) systems generate by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight into a receiver. is generated when the concentrated light is converted to heat (), which drives a (usually a ) connected to an.