Ivanpah is steam, not salt (in salt plants, the storage system is a large component of the cost).

It's not quite as simple as which area is the biggest cost component; in my experience everything adds up. You see that giant structure next to the tower? That's an air-cooled condenser, much more expensive than a wet-cooling tower, but doesn't use any water. Wouldn't surprise me if that one component cost >$50m.

For the record, power towers have been around since at least the 1980s; the technology isn't super novel, but it's all in the cost reductions since then.

Intersting!

Well, I don't know the details, if it works directly with steam then the circuits must withstand a high pressure as well no? (which can justify the higher cost)

But I thought that for thermal solar the most common case would be a molten salt circuit (high temperature low pressure) transferring heat to a steam circuit for better efficiency (and the heat storage capability of the salt)

Ah yes, the technology is not that new (it's heating with the sun after all)

You are correct on both points. But you have to keep in mind that these projects were conceived more than 5 years ago, when everyone was hesitant to build a $2b salt plant. When you combine big money with old engineers, you get very conservative (with respect to technology).

For comparison, Solar Reserve has a salt plant under construction: http://www.solarreserve.com/what-we-do/csp-projects/crescent...

Curious: Any idea why a water cooled condenser wasn't used? Water scarcity?

I read the comments first, and was expecting some very negative article.

It's not. It talks about both the positives (this is solar power that can run at night) and the negatives (it's expensive).