# Concentrated solar power: Correlation

Prices it moves with, and why

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_csp/correlation/

Concentrated solar power uses mirrors to focus sunlight and drive steam turbines, often with molten salt storage. Costs depend on mirrors, steel, salt and turbines, and it competes with cheaper PV plus batteries.
 No public price Concentrated solar power has no public monthly price series: Built on project contracts; no public price index.

#### What its price moves with

 Energy [PV Solar photovoltaics](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_pv/)Rival

Solar PV is now much cheaper per unit than concentrated solar, so most new solar uses PV. CSP survives where its built-in heat storage can supply power after sunset. Storage is its main selling point.
 No public price for solar photovoltaics, so the link is explained in words only.

 Commodity [St Steel](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/)Capture cost

Mirror frames, towers, tanks and turbines use a lot of steel. Steel prices feed into the high capital cost of CSP plants. Heliostat fields and tall towers need much more steel per unit of power than solar panels.
 Not enough overlapping price history to measure.

 Commodity [Ag Silver](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/silver/)Capture cost

CSP mirrors are usually glass coated with silver for high reflectance. Silver is a small cost per mirror but large plants need many mirrors. Mirror soiling in deserts also adds cleaning costs.
 Not enough overlapping price history to measure.

 Energy [SHS Sensible heat storage](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_sensible_heat/)Storage

Molten salt tanks store heat for hours so the plant can generate after dark. This storage is the main advantage over PV and adds to the cost. Salt is cheap and widely available.
 No public price for sensible heat storage, so the link is explained in words only.

 Commodity [H₂O Water](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/water/)Running input

CSP plants in deserts need water for cooling and mirror cleaning. Water scarcity raises costs or forces dry cooling, which lowers efficiency. Deserts with the best sunlight often have the least water, which adds a real constraint.
 Not enough overlapping price history to measure.

 Energy [Gas Natural gas](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/natural_gas/)Rival source

Gas plants compete with CSP for dispatchable power. Some CSP plants also burn gas as backup, so gas prices affect both their rival and their own costs. Cheap gas weakens its case.
 Not enough overlapping price history to measure.

How to read these numbers

**Correlation of monthly changes** (the number in the coloured pill) compares how much each price moved, month by month, since 2006 or the first month both series exist. It runs from −1 to +1: near +1 the two usually rise and fall in the same months, near 0 there is no link, and a negative number means they tend to move in opposite directions. Above 0.7 is strong, 0.4 to 0.7 moderate, 0.2 to 0.4 weak.

**12-month changes** compare year-on-year moves, which shows whether two prices share the same cycles even when the month-to-month noise differs.

**Price function** is a straight-line fit of the two prices on logarithmic scales: price ≈ k × (partner price)^β. β is how much this price moves, in per cent, for a 1% move in the partner over the whole period, and R² is the share of the variation the fit explains. Two prices that both drift up with inflation can fit well without any real link, so read it together with the monthly correlation.

**Lead or lag** checks whether the monthly correlation is clearly higher when one price is shifted by 1 to 6 months.

Correlation is not cause. The reasons on each card explain the economic link; the numbers show how strongly it has shown up in prices. Proxy series are US producer price indexes or related prices and can blur the real link.

Data: World Bank Commodity Price Data (Pink Sheet), October 2026; US Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price indexes, IMF primary commodity prices and US EIA prices via FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, retrieved November 2026. Calculations by this site.

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_csp/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_csp/overview/index.md)
- [Efficiency](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_csp/efficiency/index.md)
- [Techniques](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_csp/techniques/index.md)
- [Resources and labour](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_csp/resources/index.md)
- [Impact on the biosphere](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_csp/biosphere/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_csp/links/index.md)