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November 9, 2009

Video: Concentrating Solar Power is Here to Stay

by Stephen Lacey, Staff Writer
California, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

Twenty five years ago, the first Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) boom began in California's Mojave Desert. But shortly after the 354 MW of parabolic troughs were installed, the market ground to a halt when the technology couldn't keep pace with plummeting oil and natural gas prices.

"I think it's here to stay. In ten years from now, you will see definitely 250-MW power plants built with 6 to 8 hours of storage built on a regular basis."

-- Arnold Leitner, President and CEO of SkyFuel

For years, CSP was confined mostly to smaller water- and space-heating projects. Even though the utility-scale Mojave Desert projects had been very successful, no financiers or utilities would touch the technology.

Then in 2007, with climbing fossil energy prices and renewed interest in solar, the market looked ready to pick back up. Acciona completed its 64-MW Nevada Solar One project — the first CSP project in 15 years.

Around the same time, Europe's first commercial-scale CSP project, PS10, also came online. Utilities took notice and started signing power purchase agreements with a variety of players looking to develop parabolic troughs, power towers and linear fresnel systems. By the end of 2008, there were more than 7,000 MW of projects in the global CSP development pipeline.

Then came the financial crisis and the global recession, which suppressed the price of fossil energies and investor appetite for CSP projects. Again the industry slowed, but this time not nearly as much as it had in the past.

Due to favorable policies in countries like Spain and the U.S., as well as the need for utilities to protect themselves from the fluctuating price of natural gas, companies pushed ahead with plans to build power plants. Many projects have been set back because of difficulties in the financial markets, but few have been cancelled. Over the last year, another 20-MW project from Abengoa Solar came online in Spain and a 5-MW project from eSolar was completed in California. There are now around 9,000 MW of CSP projects under contract around the world.

“It's a deep market, and I don't think we're going to lose the momentum,” says Arnold Leitner, President and CEO of SkyFuel. “I think it's here to stay. In ten years from now, you will see definitely 250-MW power plants built with 6 to 8 hours of storage built on a regular basis.”

So how are leading players like SkyFuel, eSolar and Abengoa fairing in this favorable-yet-still-challenging environment? Check out the video below for a roundtable discussion with industry executives from these companies to get a sense for what's happening in CSP.

We'll speak with Arnold Leitner of SkyFuel; Fred Morse, Senior Advisor to U.S. Operations for Abengoa Solar; and Rob Rogan, Vice President of the Americas for eSolar about technological progress, the health of the financial markets and the reasons that utilities are embracing CSP.

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Anonymous
November 9, 2009
CSP competes directly with natural gas which is dirt cheap and plentiful. It needs welfare check subsidies and aggressive enviromental policies to succeed.
Comment 1 of 13
No image available
November 10, 2009
Anonymous wrote:
"It needs welfare check subsidies and aggressive [government] policies to succeed."

They same could be said for hydro power in the '30's, gas turbines in the '50's and nuclear power today.

Natural gas may seem dirt cheap and plentiful, but solar radiation is cheaper and more plentiful than dirt.
Comment 2 of 13
November 10, 2009
Anonymous -- don't forget what a nice compliment CSP can be to natural gas. The two are not mutually exclusive.

CSP might be more expensive now, but the cost of the fuel doesn't fluctuate. No one has any idea how wildly natural gas prices may swing. Falling natural gas prices have certainly shifted a bit of focus away from CSP and other renewables -- but utilities are certainly taking the technology more seriously because they can't predict what natural gas will do.
Comment 3 of 13
No image available
November 10, 2009
I have to agree with Stephen regarding solar and natural gas plants. Solar and natural gas plants are an excellent marriage here in the desert Southwest and here is a perfect example.

A relatively new [2005] natural gas plant sits about 30 miles west of Kingman, AZ and was almost un-used do to high natural gas prices through most of 2005, 2006, 2007 and most of 2008. Only after a significant reduction in natural gas prices did the plant again begin to operate at least on a part time basis.

What a waste of a valuable resource. Had the developer installed a supplemental solar system to the plant it could have at least operated during the daylight hours during all those years.

The question I think becomes - How long do you believe natural gas prices are going to remain at the current levels given the higher cost of obtaining new gas supplies?

tomgarven@hotmail.com
Comment 4 of 13
No image available
November 11, 2009
Anonymous -- Alas, natural gas plants need subsidies in the form of socializing the cost of pollution -- even to future generations. Not a very nice thing to leave our kids ...
Comment 5 of 13
November 11, 2009
Stephen Lacey-

If you run the audio through a noise filter it will really help. The free program audacity does a pretty good job. You can split it out then recombine it with MediaCoder (also free).
Comment 6 of 13
November 11, 2009
Loved the debate on storage. I'd have to agree with Arnold Leitner ... the thermal storage is mainly a selling feature right now ... depends on where it is and the demand. In the winter it's more important, but in CA the electric costs are by far highest in the summer in full sun .... when the electricity is generated.

This will all change when PHEV's put a drain on the system at night, but that won't be for another 10 years.
Comment 7 of 13
November 11, 2009
To the guy who said CSP competes with natural gas ... they are perfect complements. CSP should, if regulatory environment is fixed, help fund the building of natural gas based energy, as CSP and natural gas should be combined on the same location.

Cost-wise he needs to do his homework. The costs must be averaged over at least 20 year periods, and you need to take into account the CSP efficiencies made within the last couple years, and yes the regulatory environment needs to be levelized. He can call those subsidies if he wants, but lets call it what it is where the natural gas has already been getting those subsidies in numerous way, including subsidizing our environmental future.
Comment 8 of 13
No image available
November 11, 2009
Some kinds of CSP doesn't even require heating a liquid (for use later by generators). The Stirling dish simply converts sunlight into a higher efficiency source of electricity.

Mass produced LiFePO4 batteries would then (very efficiently) store that power.

In the future, this will be cheaper than natural gas. Ya, I like subsidies too (since they kick started basically, everything!
Comment 9 of 13
No image available
November 11, 2009
Right now I can see a fortunate marriage between CSP and not just CSP, everything with the sunlight energy and the hydro power.
Any company who could own both of them is GOOD business! Just contract your price to the customer and the excess of energy pump it back in your dam. :)
No penalties for downtime service, if homeworks are done. (elementary my dear Watson :).
And you don't need them in the same state according to your smart grid.
Comment 10 of 13
No image available
November 11, 2009
In ten years from now, we definitely see CSP power plants built with 6 to 8 hours of storage built on a regular basis, but not with present or old technology. New technology takes 5-10 years to become commercialized. CSP can be integrated with a biomass as depicted at http://powersmithgroup.com for a simple solar that does not require convential thermal storage or heat tranfer fluid. The same technology can be integrated with c gas combined cycle at minimal capital cost. That's the future.
Comment 11 of 13
No image available
November 12, 2009
Recent announcement by a japanese co has suggested building PV stations in space and getting that enegy back to earth using laser or microwave,They have claimed that the cost of energy will be comparable to existing rates in Japan.
Why not build CSP stations up in space and try it out. The fact is that Solar energy concentration inspace is six times that on earth so very small stations can provide enormous of energy.
Feasibility of this will remove the positioning of stations in a desert. I believe thse these can be located right on top of mega cities
Comment 12 of 13
November 13, 2009
I am interested to know capital investment for a 50 MW CSP plant with annual energy output with in Solar Zone having annual DNI 2250 kwh/m2 measured at Mathania site in Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

I also have a strong feeling that cost projected by SkyFuel, eSolar and Abengoa in Indian market are not affordable for scalable penetration of this technology. I am also confident that cost of solar block could be brought down deploying indigenous efforts and utilizing cheap resources in BOS.

The Indian government is on way and will be announcing solar mission targeting 20000 MW solar energy generation facilities development and may support PV / CSP technologies with in its affordable limits. I also understand that MNRE, CERC and PFC are actively working on cost cutting measures to bring down prohibitive capital cost for the success of solar mission.

With the down trends in PV technology cost seen it the market and economic recession all over, I estimate that an investment cost of Rs. 100 Million would yield 2.5 Million units of electricity / year in near time in Indian market. If this comes true the solar technology is sure to penetrate in a big way.

GOPAL LAL SOMANI
91 9414113199
Comment 13 of 13
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