Hi Maharaja,

From Brazil I have followed quite close the progress of solar energy in India. What I perceived is that although the Indian Government is committed to develop CSP in India, the technology is not yet commercial mature. India has several interesting pilot CSP projects, including one to gasify biomass and use this syngas as back-up fuel in a CSP tower plant.

From my point of view, in the short term solar PV is cheaper and easier to install. The PV capital cost had followed in an incredible way in the last years. On the other hand, CSP capital cost is still very high; just a few countries are deploying CSP due to specific policies to promote this technology.

But, in the long term, with a high penetration of PV in the grid, I think India will give more attention to CSP, especially with thermal energy storage, as a way to increase the flexibility in the power system.

Best regards,

Rafael

PV solar power has the advantage of no moving parts. Thus maintenance and repair costs would be lower than for solar thermal  power.

Article Which is the best solar thermal collection technology for el...

http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/biodiversity/sahyadri_enews/newsletter/issue45/bibliography/Assessment%20of%20solar%20thermal%20power%20generation%20potential%20in%20india.pdf

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14786451.2015.1088016?src=recsys&journalCode=gsol20