I. Introduction
Solar power installations are continuing to grow at a rapid rate in North America and worldwide. In 2010 solar installations in the United States were up more than a 100% over that of 2009 [1]. Many of the new installations in North America are utility-scale solar power plants connecting to utility distribution and transmission systems. Photovoltaic (PV) solar installations are seeing the most significant growth, with applications for several hundred megawatts currently in the interconnection queues. Although the US pioneered large-scale use of concentrating solar power (CSP) with the nine Solar Energy Generating Systems totaling 354 MW, constructed in California's Mojave Desert from 1984 to 1990, the US did not put another full-scale CSP plant online until the 60 MW Nevada Solar One plant in 2007. Three relatively small CSP plants have been constructed since then [2]. The development of newer technologies in CSP plants, particularly plants using dish Stirling systems, sparked new interest in CSP in 2010.