American market can see the entry of solar thermal power provided developers can cut costs so that the technology can be cost competitive and manage to get the huge amount of money needed for investment for the renewable energy plant.  

This new technology has been hyped so that the US states can come out of its dependence on the fossilized fuels, but it could not see the sunlight as the cost involved for this project is massive.  

Abengoa Solar of Spain and e Solar and Bright source are solar thermal companies, which are equipped with technology that can get the sunrays concentrated for heating up water, and convert it to steam, which in turn can drive a generator.  

Companies like Suntech and First Solar manufactures traditional photo voltaic modules that can directly convert sunlight into electricity. They enjoy the lion’s share of the solar market.  

Companies supporting solar thermal have expressed that the technology is capable of claiming lion’s share of large scale projects of the US but as prices of PV panel has dropped sharply most of the market interest has gone towards that technology.   

Christine Hersey, an analyst from Wedbush stated that as the cost of panel of solar PV has come down so much that solar thermal does not look cost competitive anymore. Solar thermal is cost effective only when it can be thought on large scale, a project of solar thermal needs hundreds of millions of dollar where as solar PV can be made part by part in smaller steps and the money involvement at one is less.   

It is not wise to make a thermal plant having less capacity than hundred megawatts because then it won’t give the value for money where as PV can have wide range of application from very large to a tiny one starting from a five hundred megawatts project to a small panel on the roof of a car.