Concentrated Solar Power Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing has cooled since 2018. the peak year in the dataset, with 2026 tracking far below it — a partial year, but the 2022 midpoint of 14 filings already sits well under half the peak.
- Ownership is concentrated but not locked up. the top 5 assignees account for 32.3% of all 406 records and the top 10 for 47.5%, leaving more than half the field spread across a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants.
- Solar heat collection dominates the claim map. F24S covers 91.4% of records, while turbine integration (F02C, 3.2%) and semiconductor-adjacent receiver materials (H01L, 3.9%) remain comparatively thin.
What the concentrated solar power patent record shows
Concentrated solar power (CSP) systems use mirrors or lenses — parabolic troughs, heliostat fields, or solar towers — to focus sunlight onto a receiver that heats a working fluid, which then drives a turbine or feeds thermal storage. The patent record in scope here spans 406 records filed between 2015 and mid-2026, built around claims covering heliostat field control, receiver flux management, thermal storage integration, dispatchability and heat transfer fluid handling. Publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent filing years understate actual activity.
The technology composition points to a field still organised around collector and heat-exchange hardware rather than downstream power conversion: solar heat collector claims (F24S) touch the overwhelming majority of records, while gas-turbine integration and semiconductor-adjacent receiver materials appear in only a small fraction. That imbalance is a useful compass for where claim space is dense and where it is still open.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 406-record dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
A 2018 peak followed by a flat-to-declining trend
Filings rose to 28 in 2018, the peak year in the dataset, before easing back toward a 2022 midpoint of 14 and continuing lower into 2026 (a partial year). The pattern reads as a field that filed hard around early commercial CSP plant deployments and has since settled rather than accelerated.
Collector and heat-exchange hardware dominate the claim map
F24S (solar heat collectors) appears in 91.4% of the 406 records in scope, with F24J and F03G also well represented. Turbine integration (F02C), semiconductor-adjacent materials (H01L) and layered/laminate structures (B32B) each sit under 11%, marking them as comparatively under-claimed relative to core collector and thermal-transfer subject matter. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares sum to well over 100% and should not be added together.
Shares are the percentage of the 406 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Concentrated Solar Power Systems with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about concentrated solar power systems and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this dataset
System and method for thermo-mechanical monitoring of a solar receiver (US10947960B2)
A CSP plant with a heliostat field reflecting solar energy onto a cylindrical receiver atop a central tower; the receiver's external surface is covered with panels of heat exchanger tubes carrying heat transfer fluid, protected by an adjacent heat shield, and monitored by a thermo-mechanical system that verifies the structural integrity of the receiver panel tubes during operation.Filed by John Cockerill Renewables, granted 2021-03-16.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20120102950A1 | Solar thermal power plant with the integration of an aeroderivative turbine | 130 |
| 2 | US20130257056A1 | Methods and systems for concentrated solar power | 124 |
| 3 | WO2008108870A1 | Solar power plant and method and/or system of storing energy in a concentrated solar power plant | 119 |
| 4 | US20040055594A1 | Lightweight, low-cost solar energy collector | 104 |
| 5 | US20110073104A1 | Parabolic trough solar energy collection system | 103 |
| 6 | US20140366536A1 | High temperature thermal energy for grid storage and concentrated solar plant enhancement | 95 |
| 7 | US20150033740A1 | Multi-thermal storage unit systems, fluid flow control devices, and low pressure solar receivers for solar po… | 89 |
| 8 | US7954321B2 | Solar power plant and method and/or system of storing energy in a concentrated solar power plant | 89 |
| 9 | US6994082B2 | Lightweight, low-cost solar energy collector | 87 |
| 10 | US20110277471A1 | Solar power plant and method and/or system of storing energy in a concentrated solar power plant | 82 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and skew toward older filings — treat them as a signal of impact, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the raw counts are read against each other: where the claim space is genuinely crowded, where citation concentration is misleading, and where receiving-office choice signals commercial intent.
Leadership is real but not exclusive
The top 5 assignees hold 32.3% of all 406 records and the top 10 hold 47.5%. That leaves more than half the field to single- and few-filing entrants, so a freedom-to-operate review needs to look well past the leaderboard.
Collector hardware still anchors the field
Solar heat collector claims (F24S) touch the overwhelming majority of records, while gas-turbine integration (F02C) and semiconductor-adjacent receiver materials (H01L) sit under 4% each — a gap worth checking before assuming those branches are crowded.
Momentum has cooled since 2018
The 2018 peak of 28 filings has not been matched since; the 2022 midpoint of 14 and the trajectory into a partial 2026 both point to a field that is filing less, not more, even before adjusting for publication lag.
US and PCT routes lead filing venue choice
The United States is the single largest receiving office, followed by WIPO PCT filings and the EPO, with Australia and India also drawing meaningful volume — a spread consistent with CSP deployment geography rather than a single home market.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to concentrated solar power systems, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gate is
The leader in this ranking sits well ahead of fifth and tenth place, but recent-year momentum for several of the largest historical filers has dropped to zero — a sign that the ranking reflects legacy filing more than current activity.
One filer well ahead of the pack
The leading assignee holds 44 records against 15 for fifth place and 11 for tenth — a steep drop-off that marks a genuine leader rather than a tightly bunched group.
Legacy leaders have gone quiet
Several of the largest historical filers, including Siemens Concentrated Solar Power and Abengoa Solar, show zero filings in the latest year captured, suggesting the ranking reflects accumulated portfolio strength rather than current filing pace.
A small cluster of tightly linked individual filers
The strongest co-assignee pairing appears among individual inventors rather than corporate entities, with two other pairs close behind — a tight three-way cluster distinct from the corporate leaderboard.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Siemens Concentrated Solar Power | 0 | — |
| Wilson Solarpower Corp | 0 | — |
| Abengoa Solar LLC | 0 | — |
| Siemens AG | 0 | — |
| John Cockerill Renewables SA | 0 | — |
| The Babcock & Wilcox Co | 0 | — |
| Vast Solar Pty Ltd | 0 | — |
| Sopogy Inc | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, R&D targeting, or licensing strategy.
Check freedom-to-operate against the long tail
With more than half of all 406 records held outside the top 10 assignees, a clearance search needs to cover the long tail of single-filing entrants, not just the leaderboard.
Explore assignee data in EurekaTarget the under-claimed branches
Gas-turbine hybrid integration, semiconductor-adjacent receiver materials and layered laminate receiver structures all sit well below the field's dominant collector claim density.
Run a white space search in EurekaRe-read citation leaders as historical signal
The most-cited records in this dataset are older filings; treat their citation counts as evidence of influence on the field, not as a guide to which claims are currently most active.
Review cited records in EurekaFrequently asked questions
This dataset contains 406 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that match claims on heliostat field control, receiver flux management, thermal storage integration, dispatchability and heat transfer fluid handling. The 406 figure is also the total used for the assignee ranking, so family-level and record-level counts here are the same base. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the true count of recent filings is understated, especially for 2025-2026.
The ranked assignee list covers 100 companies, with one clear leader holding 44 records well ahead of fifth place at 15 and tenth place at 11. The top 5 assignees combined hold 32.3% of all 406 records, and the top 10 hold 47.5%, meaning over half the field is held by entities outside that group. Several of the largest historical filers show zero filings in the most recent year tracked, which suggests current activity has shifted toward other, smaller filers rather than staying with the legacy leaders.
Filing peaked at 28 records in 2018 and has not returned to that level since; the 2022 midpoint sits at 14, roughly half the peak, and the trend continues lower into a partial 2026. This points to a field that filed heavily around early commercial CSP deployment and has since cooled rather than accelerated. Readers should treat the final one or two years in any such trend cautiously, since publication lag means recent filings are still arriving in the record.
Solar heat collector claims (IPC class F24S) touch 91.4% of the 406 records in scope, making collector hardware the dominant claim area by a wide margin. F24J and F03G subject matter also appear in a large share of records, while gas-turbine integration (F02C, 3.2%), semiconductor-adjacent receiver materials (H01L, 3.9%) and layered laminate structures (B32B, 3.7%) are comparatively thin. Since a single record can carry several IPC classes, these figures should be read against the total record count, not summed together.
US10947960B2, held by John Cockerill Renewables, covers a thermo-mechanical monitoring system for a heliostat-fed cylindrical solar receiver, specifically verifying the structural integrity of heat exchanger tubes embedded in the receiver panels during operation. It does not claim the heliostat field, the receiver geometry or the heat transfer fluid itself — its scope is the monitoring method layered on top of that hardware. A new receiver design that uses a different integrity-verification approach, or omits continuous thermo-mechanical monitoring altogether, would sit outside its claims, though the surrounding receiver and heliostat prior art still needs separate clearance.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.