Looking at the super bright incandescence of the tower of the CSP station at Ivanpah (makes a nice screensaver) also brings to mind another possible hybrid… plasmonics.
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1310.6949 “Plasmonic materials for energy: from physics to applications” by Svetlana Boriskina of MIT. Boriskina - the #1 guru of Plasmonics, suggests that photovoltaics could get a major boost from SPP. Quote: “High density of optical states in the vicinity of plasmonic structures enhances light absorption and emission, enables localized heating, and drives near-field heat exchange between hot and cold surfaces. SP modes channel the energy of absorbed photons directly to the free electrons, and the generated hot electrons can be utilized in thermoelectric, photovoltaic and photo-catalytic platforms.” Why stop with SPP-boosted PV ? There could be more… Holy heliostats! there’s no good reason that a solar/LENR hybrid could not be implemented… (you heard it first on Vortex) There is a recently funded (ARPA-E) technology which could push solar into higher demand by lowering cost per kW. It is a “brilliant” idea, so to speak. There are two primary methods for using sunlight: direct conversion to electricity using photovoltaics, or focusing sunlight onto a fluid that is used to drive a steam turbine - aka concentrated solar power (CSP). Combining the best of both technologies could provide a means to get the more from the solar spectrum, generating both electricity and storable heat (for later use) within the same system. Arizona State U is developing a hybrid solar energy system that modifies the single axis CSP “trough” design, converting the mirrored trough with solar cells that collect direct rays while reflecting the rest of the direct sunlight to a thermal absorber to generate heat. I can find no recent update on the ARPA announcement but it sounds like a great idea. http://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=slick-sheet-project/solar-concentrating-photovoltaic-mirror
