The good, bad and ugly on CSP Project Development

The secret to success is based upon essential pillars being in place:

• CSP site secured
• Connected to transmission line
• Profitable PPA signed
• Sufficient finance fixed
• Plant will be constructed within budget and on time

Without all of these simultaneously being in place there is a catastrophic domino effect on the progress and ultimately the death of the project.

Below are the top 10 examples on the highs and lows of developing a CSP project:

1) There are 10, 836MW of CSP under development in 2010 alone, but only 423MW in operation or under construction?

2) The cost of mitigating impacts on endangered desert tortoise populations in San Bernardino County (another hot spot for CSP and other renewable) can reach $1 million — per tortoise!

3) As California moves to license dozens of huge solar power plants to meet the state's renewable energy goals, some developers contend they are being pressured to sign agreements pledging to use union labor. If they refuse, they say, they can count on the union group to demand costly environmental studies and deliver hostile testimony at public hearings.

4) Three out of four Americans support putting solar power plants on public lands. Yet while oil and gas companies have received more than 74,000 permits to operate on federal lands in the past two decades, utility-scale solar developers have received zero

5) California once jump-started the world's Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and the rest of renewable energy industry in the '80s, but today, the state has earned the reputation of being the most difficult state to site, permit, and construct any type of renewable energy project in the country

6) Power plant siting challenges could become more – rather than less – cumbersome with the recent introduction of desert protection legislation by Senator Diane Feinstein (D-California). The proposed legislation would place more than a million acres of public land in the Mojave Desert off limits to CSP and other renewable energy resource development.

7) $1.45 Billion Loan Guarantee for Abengoa CSP Plant as President Obama gives the go-ahead for one of the world's largest concentrating solar power projects.

8) Tax equity financing for renewable energy projects – that is, investing in renewable energy in exchange for the tax credits — is being considered by large corporations including Microsoft, Google and others

9) The US solar thermal market grew at a CAGR of 2% per annum from 2001 to 2009. However, the government encouragement for the sector is expected to lift CAGR to astonishing levels of 46% per annum for the period 2010 to 2020. The installations are expected to pick up pace as high capacity plants come online during the period.

10) The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has proposed new rules as part of its open access transmission reforms by establishing a closer link between regional electric transmission planning and cost allocation to help ensure that needed transmission facilities actually are built.

Therefore the question at the forefront of the industry is how do you get CSP projects off the ground?

If you found this interesting and an important topic you will find value in the 1st CSP Today Project Development Conference & Expo. The agenda is focused on how to solve CSP development hurdles and increase your speed to market, and it takes place on October 25-26 in Denver, US.

Want to find out more? Just fill in a quick form

http://www.csptoday.com/projectdevelopment/launch.shtml

You will receive a free copy of the event brochure & an exclusive presentation from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati at our flagship CSP Conference in June this year on the topical issue 'CSP Project Power Purchase Agreements: The Landscape and Key Deal Points To Obtain A Financeable PPA'

For more information contact:

Heidi Hafes
CSP Today
heidi@csptoday.com
+44 207 375 7206
www.csptoday.com