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This project was
initiated in 2002 by a congressional request of DOE to investigate the
“feasibility of 1000 MW of concentrating solar power in the Southwest by
2006.” The initial activity, known as the 1000 MW Initiative, has grown and
now includes: outreach to the southwestern states; the support of
state-level activities in New Mexico, California, Arizona, and Colorado; and
analysis in support of the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) 30 GW Clean
Energy Initiative.
In April of 2004
at the North American Energy Summit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Western
Governors’ Association resolved to evaluate diversification of Western
energy resources. The mechanism for doing this is the 30 GW Clean and
Diversified Energy Initiative for the West. In FY 2005, we provided
significant support to the WGA Solar Task Force through a combination of
in-house and subcontracted technical, policy, and market analyses. This
effort continued into FY 2006 with the production of the final Solar Task
Force Report issued in January 2006.
Activities
starting in FY2006 (since October 2005) and continuing through the present
time included continuing support of the WGA Solar Task force, reporting of
WGA report results to southwestern U.S., and continuing the development of
tools to support CSP market development activities including GIS-based
siting tools and market value and market penetration models.
Accomplishments in each of these areas is described below.
Continued
Support to WGA Solar Task Force: The DOE CSP Program supported the WGA Solar
Task Force by participating in task force meetings, providing analysis of
CSP costs and southwest market potential, and we supported the writing of
the Solar Task Force Report.
Analytical
Support to Southwest Stakeholders: In California, the CSP Market
Transformation Team met with members of the California Energy Commission and
California utilities to discuss implementing CSP projects within the
regulatory/ incentive structure in the state. We contracted with Black and
Veatch to perform an economic impact study for deploying CSP power
generation in the state of California.
In New Mexico,
members CSP Market Transformation Team met with the State of New Mexico
Energy and Minerals Department and made presentations to the state
legislature and Public Regulatory Commission. These discussions helped to
impact the development of a resolution in support of extending Federal
incentives for wind and solar development; an increase of the state’s RPS
from 10 to 20%; pending legislation to further incentivize solar deployment
through property and sales tax relief; and the possibility of a future solar
set aside within the state’s RPS.
In Arizona, the
team provided technical support to the State of Arizona as they reviewed and
restructured their Environmental Portfolio Standard. We also made
presentations on CSP technology to the State Corporation Commission and, in
response to their request, performed an analysis of how existing state
incentives would support CSP deployment in the state. The team is also
supporting a utility consortium, being led by Arizona Public Service, to
explore developing a CSP project in southwest.
Analytical Tools
to Support These Efforts: NREL developed an initial U.S. CSP market
penetration model to predict CSP market penetration as a function technology
cost, cost of conventional technologies, and local and regional policies.
The model called the Concentrating Solar Deployment System (CSDS) Model
currently only supports analysis of a CSP parabolic trough system with
thermal storage. Additional technology options will be added in the future.
NREL has also
continued to develop GIS-based resource assessment tools that can be
combined with other GIS data bases to provide CSP siting information to
developers, state governments and utilities.
NREL has also
developed an initial model of the potential impact that the development of a
CSP project will have on the local, regional and state economy. This model
is similar to the analyses done in Nevada, California, and New Mexico but
allows us to perform initial estimates for any given region. |
