Various central receiver technologies for supplying 550 and 350/sup 0/F saturated steam for industrial process heat applications are compared. Conceptual designs of systems based on molten salt, water/steam, and oil receivers were derived, where possible, from earlier work within the Department of Energy Solar Thermal Program. Systems include either molten salt or oil/rock storage subsystems. Cost estimates of delivered energy over a capacity factor range from 0.27 to 0.67 are reported. For conditions of little or no storage several different technologies can be used to supply saturated steam for industrial process heat applications at roughly equal costs. For systems with large amounts of storage, the results clearly demonstrate the advantages of collecting energy at temperatures higher than the application temperature. A significant implication of this study is that process steam represents an additional market for the 1050/sup 0/F molten salt receiver system currently receiving program emphasis for electrical power production. All of the work in support of that effort is directly applicable and timely for this industrial application.