
437© 2008 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
8
Solar Process Heat and Thermal Power*
The illusion of unlimited powers, nourished by astonishing scientic and technological
achievements, has produced the concurrent illusion of having solved the problem of
production.
—E.F. Schumacher
8.1 Historical Perspective
Attempts to harness the sun’s energy for power production date back to at least 1774 [1],
when the French chemist Lavoisier and the English scientist Joseph Priestley discovered
oxygen and developed the theory of combustion by concentrating the rays of the sun on
mercuric oxide in a test tube, collecting the gas produced with the aid of solar energ ...