This might make sense for large scale solar farms, since the integration of PV would allow the overall price of power to be lower than CSP alone, while CSP would be able to compensate for the rapid output changes from PV that occur whenever a cloud passes over, as well as producing power at night, or shifting it ot peak afternoon periods.

FORBES: The Next Trend: Integrating PV with Solar Thermal

It installed more than 20, 000 smart meters, connected them via a fibre-optic network, launched a website to track power use and has started to offer pricing plans that encourage shifting consumption to off-peak hours.

ECONOMIST: Utilities are getting wise to smart meters and grids

"Residential air-conditioning is the peak load problem, and we're able to tackle the load-shifting in a very automated way, " says Matt Rogers, Nest's engineering VP.

CNN: Nest's plan to stop brownouts before they start