A solar pond can be used for various applications, such as process heating, desalination, refrigeration, drying and solar power generation.

A solar pond is simply a pool of saltwater which collects and stores solar thermal energy.

The first solar pond in India (6000 sq. metres) was built at Bhuj.

The solar pond successfully demonstrated the expediency of the technology by supplying 80,000 litres of hot water daily to the plant.

It is also the first ever salt-gradient solar pond in the U.S.

However, in the solar pond the lower levels of water are more saline and heavier and therefore cannot rise.

Salt is also harvested from the lake surface and from solar ponds.

It was the largest operating solar pond ever build for electricity generation and operated up until 1988.

This method does not harness osmotic power, only solar power (see: solar pond).

Sometimes the receiver is an integral part of the system, for example, in solar ponds and flat plate collectors.