also almost non-corrosive, non-toxic, doesn't damage ozone layer, zero global warming potential, non-flammable etc (lots of organic rankine cycle fluids fail one or more of these. tradeoff is utilization of lower temperature sources)

It’s great for nuclear reactors. Hot rock make turbine go brrr

Piezoelectricity is the only other I can really think of. But it's not like we are out here smacking crystals with hammers to make power.

All power generation is either solar or 'make thing spin', unless we're including RTGs and Piezoelectrics.

What about Wind Mills?

Hydro power uses running water not hot water.

Squeezing can be converter to electricity with pizeo electric. Heat difference can be converted into electric directly with peltier devices. Both of these are very inefficient ways to make electricy.

Wasn't the main appeal of the mirror installations that you can store the heat somewhat efficiently? Rooftop solar is cost effective even here in Germany, where darkness and shadows loom around every corner.

There’s also wind. But that just skips the steam

Cost per MWh is what tends to matter more than efficiency. Photovoltaics have become dirt cheap. Mirror collection systems haven't been able to keep up, and the projects for them are basically defunct at this point.

Was worth trying, though. It wasn't obvious that photovoltaics would get so damn cheap 10 or 20 years ago.

Yep. Angry rock make water go hiss.

Steam just makes sense as a fluid for heat engines, thermal power plants are mostly steam, except when gas turbines are involved, but even then there's most of the time steam bottoming cycle. (gas turbine burns something, then exhaust is hot enough to power steam cycle) Unless thermal power plant is small, then it's more likely to be diesel engine (up to few MW). Only when it's photovoltaics, or hydropower, or wind farm (or tidal powerplant, or some other weird ones) there's no place for steam to be involved (solar thermal plants sometimes use steam cycle). Geothermal powerplants use steam if source is hot enough, otherwise it's something more volatile in organic Rankine cycle

Geothermal power still uses steam to generate electricity. It's steams all the way down.

Piezoelectric effect is when you vibrate certain crystals and they give off electricity. It's also reversible. You can feed them electricity to generate sound. The beep-boop sound from small electronic devices is usually from a piezo speaker, because they're dirt cheap.

You don't get significant amounts of power out of it, though.

They’re different. The piezoelectric effect converts pressure to charge. However steam is just kinetic with an extra step