Along with the rapid development of solar energy industry

more and more solar energy is integrated into electricity grid in the form of concentrating solar power(CSP). Forecasting direct normal irradiance(DNI)accurately several days ahead has become the foundation for solar energy integration as well as operation and maintenance of a CSP power plant. Treated in the paper are the definition of DNI

the electric power industry standards in China

methodology of short-term DNI forecasting

influence factors of forecast accuracy

approaches to accuracy improvement

and most recent advances of research in the nation. Meanwhile

problems in current researches are presented and future research and trends are envisioned for reference by the development of CSP in the “13th five-year plan” period. This work is supported by State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No. 41130104)and Major Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No. 41590875).