Today, solar energy research has a similar pattern to nuclear energy. The emphasis is on a narrow technical options and test facilities.
An example is a power tower, which is a system for collection solar energy from a large field of mirrors and converting it to heat at high temperature for efficient generation of electricity. All the mirrors track the sun and the heat is focused on a single broiler thermal system. The purpose is to only cover the midday load as experienced by utilities. To counter the effect of passing cloud, there is a thermal storage capability filled with oil.
The cost of such a plant is not as large as developing a new reactor system. However, the prototype power station emphasizes the centralized method of generating electricity. Solar energy however, is much more democratic. Instead of having a centralized power generation, the section on the use of solar cells will show us that solar power is decentralized by nature.