Susan Kraemer

ATA Insights invites you to attend the World Bank’s MENA CSP KIP capstone online conference: Concentrating Solar for Power and Heat (April 1-2, 2020) This final workshop of the World Bank’s Middle East & North Africa Concentration Solar Power Knowledge & Innovation Program will summarize the results of the Program’s activities over the past three years, […]

Spain’s solar generation from Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) continues to increase as operating experience continues to increase efficiency Read More …

From CSP Focus: China Supcon Delingha 50MW CSP plant achieved record high performance in Feb. 2020 The monthly generation of China Supcon Delingha 50WM CSP tower plant reached record high at 17.1795 GWh in February 2020 (from Jan 26 to Feb 25), with the generation fulfillment rate of 102.9%. Supcon Delingha 50MW Molten Salt Tower […]

Source: Power-Technology Saudi Arabia has appointed the UK-based Solar Water PLC to build the first ‘carbon-neutral’ desalination plant in the city of Neom. The desalination plant will use concentrated solar power to heat a steel dome that boils the seawater. Works on the desalination plant are expected to start in February and be completed by […]

Advances in sky camera systems are set to drive up CSP efficiency in the coming years. In Europe, tests of WobaS All Sky Imager (ASI) technology at the 50 MW La Africana parabolic trough plant in Spain increased plant revenue by 2% over a two year period. Developed by Germany’s DLR Institute of Solar Research […]

Source: South Africa ITWeb Spanish-based technology and engineering company, Sener, together with its partners, has invested billions of rands in the Ilanga concentrated solar power 1 (CSP1) project,which provides solar-generated thermal electricity to around 100 000 South African households. Billed SA’s first 100% black-owned solar plant, the Ilanga CSP1 is located in Karoshoek, about 20km […]

Unlike in other countries, Chile’s open auctions have no subsidies or technology restrictions, pitting CSP against combined cycle gas turbine power plants Read More …

Building on R&D from IDEALAB, Bill Gates has now invested in his second CSP-based start-up after Malta, with Heliogen. Press Release; Singular scientific achievement takes place at Heliogen’s commercial facility in Lancaster, California PASADENA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Heliogen, the clean energy company that is transforming sunlight to create and replace fuels, today announced its launch and that […]

The goal of this RFI is to assess how we can accelerate the commercialization of sCO2 integration with CSP. Today, the Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) has issued a new request for information (RFI) about the integration of advanced supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycles and thermal energy storage with concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP). This is […]

On November 6, 2019, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $128 million in funding for 75 projects in this program. Thirteen of these projects will focus on CSP research and development. Concentrating Solar Power Research and Development: $30 million for 13 research projects that enable CSP to provide power at any time and in any season, and […]

Source: Port Technology News The Port of Antwerp has inaugurated the first Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) in Europe as part of its efforts to make its operations more environmentally friendly. [Actually, there are many such projects in Europe: for example the many cities with solar district heat from Aalborg. CST (or CSH) provides just direct […]

Luneng’s 50 Megawatt (MW) tower CSP project with 12 hours of thermal energy storage (in molten salts) connected to the Chinese grid on September 20th Read More …

Supcon has completed its second CSP Tower project, the 50 MW Gonghe project at record speed – just under a year and a half Read More …

The 150 MW Noor III CSP tower in Morocco has exceeded performance targets on output and storage integration in the first few months of operation and financing costs for tower storage projects should fall in line with parabolic trough rates going forward, Xavier Lara, Senior Consultant at CSP engineering group Empresarios Agrupados (EA), told New […]

EPC Contract with Shanghai Electric to Develop 700 MW DEWA CSP Project Signed in China ACWA Power Apr 15, 2018 DEWA and ACWA Power, in collaboration with Shanghai Electric, will undertake the 700 MW CSP portion of the 950 MW solar project in Dubai. Together with 250 MW of PV, the 950 MW solar project […]

CSP Researchers: Up to $33M is available under the US Department of Energy SETO office to support the development of low-cost storage technologies for CSP that make solar-thermal energy available on demand. In addition, the office is seeking projects that lower CSP costs by supporting the development of advanced manufacturing processes and developing autonomous technologies. […]

Ilanga-1 has been certified to initiate commercial operation of its day-into-night solar CSP facility, now that construction, commissioning and testing is complete Press Release: Johannesburg (South Africa), 5 December 2018 – SENER, global engineering and technology group, together with its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partners, Emvelo and Cobra, announces that the Ilanga-1 Concentrated Solar […]

. Prof. Manuel Blanco, European Research Area (ERA) Chair in Solar Thermal Technologies for the Eastern Mediterranean of the Energy Division of the Cyprus Institute’s Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC) & Vice-Chair of SolarPACES announces the first-ever international conference on the role of CSP in climate mitigation through decarbonising the energy sector, to be […]

GlassPoint just signed an agreement with a second oil company operating in Oman to facilitate oil production by the use of 2 GWth solar-generated steam replacing fossil fuel-generated steam.  Read More …

Source: IEA: Renewables 2018 Market analysis and forecast from 2018 to 2023 With 1.9 GW coming online, China is expected to overtake the United States to have the second-largest CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) installed capacity by 2023, as global deployment nearly doubles over the next five years from today’s 5 GW. CSP is expected to grow […]

Source: China National Solar Thermal Energy Alliance The Delingha 50MW solar thermal power plant constructed by CGN New Energy, a subsidiary of China General Nuclear Power Corporation, in the northwestern province of Qinghai was put into operation on October 10th, 2018. As China’s first large commercial parabolic-trough concentrated solar power (CSP) plant, the operation of […]

Source: ARPA-E The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the selection of 10 projects as part of a new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program, DAYS; Duration Addition to electricitY Storage. Awardees will develop energy storage systems to provide reliable, affordable power to the electric grid for up to 100 hours, enhancing grid resilience and […]

US solar developer SolarReserve has just signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Australian firm Heliostat SA, to partner in manufacturing and assembling heliostats and heliostat components for the 150 MW Aurora CSP project that SolarReserve is developing in Port Augusta. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is a thermal form of solar energy that includes integrated molten […]

Source: Center for Mediterranean Integration Lessons learned in Chile’s CSP program: A Word with Carlos Arenas Coronil, former Regional Secretary, Northern Chile Region CM. You have pushed for the development of concentrating solar power in Chile from the very beginning, why do you think CSP is a good choice for Chile? CA. I’ll give you […]

Source: SENER Johannesburg (South Africa), 02 August 2018 – The engineering and technology group SENER and ACCIONA Industrial have achieved another relevant milestone initiating the salt melting process at the Kathu Solar Park Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant. The molten salt will be used to store heat from the solar field that can later be […]

From CSPPlaza: China’s power grid system has connected a new solar thermal power project. On the evening of 30th June, China’s first commercial-scale Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Delingha 50MW parabolic trough CSP station was successfully connected to the grid, achieving the milestone of grid connection. This means that the first […]

Source: RenewEconomy The world’s biggest solar tower power plant with molten salt storage has begun commissioning in Morocco, and is scheduled to begin production by October. The 150MW Noor Ouarzazate III solar receiver, with 7.5 hours of molten salt storage is only the second big scale project of its type, and trumps its predecessor in […]

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has announced that the deadline for the first batch of CSP demo projects can be extended to 2020, but with an electricity price reduction mechanism. On May 22, the NEA issued a notice, “Promoting the Construction of Solar Thermal Power Demonstration Projects”. The notice pointed out that the first batch […]

Source: Cerro Dominador May 18, 2018, Chile – Cerro Dominador, a Chilean company owned by investment funds managed by EIG Global Energy Partners (“EIG”), today announced the signing of the financing for its Solar Power Concentration (CSP) plant located in the Atacama desert, in Chile. This milestone will allow the company to complete the construction of […]

Source: CSPToday Design innovations and a favorable development framework should see Morocco hit its lowest prices for the hybrid PV-CSP Noor Midelt project and the country is joining global support schemes to diversify its funding supply, an official at the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen), said. Managed by Masen, the renewable program supported the […]

Source: RenewEconomy.com US solar company SolarReserve has sought approval to add a 70MW solar PV farm to the world leading solar tower and molten salt storage facility proposed for Port Augusta in South Australia. The plans for the additional solar PV are revealed in a development application to the South Australia Planning Commission, submitted in […]

Source: heliocsp.com Abengoa will provide the technology and develop the engineering to the LuNeng Haixi 50 MW solar thermal tower plant project, in the Qinghai province. The company will also be responsible for providing the technology and engineering for the Royal Tech Yumen project for a 50 MW solar thermal parabolic trough plant to be […]

International Conference presented innovative solutions in mirror cleaning, cooling systems, simulations Source: https://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/129321_en.html Concentrated solar power (CSP) is a promising electricity generation technology full of growing potential. However, traditional wet-cooled CSP plants often consume a large amount of water which especially causes a challenge in arid areas where water resources are scarce. The International Conference on […]

Carbon dioxide (CO2) Global energy-related CO2 emissions grew by 1.4% in 2017, reaching a historic high of 32.5 gigatonnes (Gt), a resumption of growth after three years of global emissions remaining flat. The increase in CO2 emissions, however, was not universal. While most major economies saw a rise, some others experienced declines, including the United […]

Agreements opening the way for the construction of 27 renewable-energy independent power producer (IPP) projects, with a combined investment value of R56-billion and a combined capacity of 2 300 MW, were finally signed on Wednesday April 4, after a confidence-sapping delay of over two years. Read More …

Source: EurekAlert! The thousands of metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from power plants each year doesn’t have to go into the atmosphere. Researchers are optimistic that within the next decade we will be able to affordably capture CO2 waste and convert it into useful molecules for feedstock, biofuels, pharmaceuticals, or renewable fuels. On […]

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed into law by US Democrats in response to the international financial meltdown of 2008, offered the biggest boost for renewables since President Carter first funded solar research in the ’70s. Today, in a repudiation of funding slashes sought by both the majority Republican Party and his own administration, […]

From CSPToday: Libya’s Misurata Free Zone (MFZ) has signed a memorandum of understanding with consultancy iQ Power to develop integrated CSP and PV projects with up to 300 MW total capacity. MFZ, the first free trade zone established on Libyan territory, has shown its desire to develop a solar energy industry, according to a iQ […]

  Via RenewEconomy: Oz Minerals signed a landmark deal with US-based SolarReserve, the developer of the 150MW solar tower and molten salt storage projects near Port Augusta, to share part of the cost of a new 270km high voltage transmission line. It is believed to be the first deal of its type where costs are […]

From HelioCSP: According to Solargis, China has good potential to develop CSP industry in terms of solar resources, but with strong geographic diversification. Abundant direct normal irradiance is found in the Western regions of Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Gansu. Average annual DNI in these regions varies between 1700 and 2300 kWh/m2. For reliable […]

Acciona has reached an agreement to sell its five solar thermal plants in Spain (with a combined capacity of 250MW) to ContourGlobal plc. The transaction amounts to €1.09 billion, which could increase by €27 million, to €1.12 billion, if certain milestones are met. Once completed, the deal will enable the Acciona group to reduce debt […]

The engineering and technology group SENER and Acciona achieved the connection of the 100-MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant to the 132 kV ESKOM Distribution line on February 23, 2018. Main and auxiliary transformers have been energized which represents a relevant milestone for power plant commissioning activities. The Kathu Solar Park CSP Plant, which will supply […]

The 1,021 MWth solar thermal EOR project will generate 6,000 tons of solar steam each day, one gigawatt of solar thermal energy From Glasspoint: Fremont, California, February 12th, 2018 – Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the leading exploration and production company in the Sultanate of Oman, and GlassPoint Solar, the leading supplier of solar energy to the […]

From Reuters: BEIJING, Jan 25 (Reuters) – China’s SPIC Shijiazhuang Dongfang Energy said on Thursday it plans to build a high-tech solar power plant in Inner Mongolia with capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW), which would be one of the largest of its kind in the world’s top solar market. The project would cost about 46 […]

  Report from CSPPLAZA: In 2017, global installed capacity of CSP totals 5133MW, representing an increase of 2.3% over 2016, according to statistics from CSPPLAZA research center. On the basis of 5017MW of 2016, the CSP installed capacity in 2017 showed only a slight increase for the reason that several projects haven’t put into operation, […]

Gulf Base reports: Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power, the power and desalination plant producer, could go public within the next two years, according to its CEO and President Paddy Padmanathan. ACWA, which has garnered a reputation for building renewable energy projects at record low prices, is looking for an initial public offering (IPO) as soon as […]

Renewable energy costs for the four main clean energy technologies is covered in an exhaustive new report from IRENA: Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2017. The cost trajectories for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), solar PV, onshore and offshore wind can be found in the full report which notes: “The sharp cost reductions for CSP, solar PV, onshore and […]

SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corporation, one of two EPCs involved in construction, (SENER, the EPS for Gemasolar is the other one) said that project synchronization to the grid of the first 10 MW of ACWA Power’s Noor II solar plant was accomplished successfully on January 10, 2018 at 16:52. Unit operating indicators were normal, marking […]

Morocco’s first operating CSP plant has shown that concentrating solar power can solve the problem of energy blackouts in the peak evening hours, a senior representative of the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN) told the recent CSP Seville conference. The 160 MW Noor 1 parabolic trough power plant exceeded its objectives in year one […]

ADELAIDE, Australia–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SolarReserve has received Development Approval for its Aurora Solar Energy Project, a key milestone required to build the landmark 150 megawatt solar thermal power station 30 kilometers north of Port Augusta. The approval process examined a range of critical elements including environmental, community, and social impacts of the Aurora project, which were assessed by […]

Renewable Hydrogen For Export Funding Round Deadline for submissions is February 28, 2018 Following a positive response to our recent Exporting Renewable Hydrogen RFI, we are opening an R&D funding round from 20 December 2017 to 5pm AEDT 28 February 2018. ARENA will be inviting a broad range of R&D applications, from early stage R&D […]

According to Power Technology, TuNur applied to the Tunisian Government to begin construction of their proposed 4.5GW concentrated solar power (CSP) project in the Sahara Desert at a price for power that is expected to be 8.73 cents per kilowatt hour, much lower than suggested three months ago. [Ed note: when SolarPACES interviewed TuNur CEO […]

Sign up for the Webinar from ATA: Morocco’s solar energy opportunities 22 Jan, 12:00 CET (Check your local time) Morocco is arguably the North African country that has made the most effort towards creating a national solar energy industry. Morocco has no fossil fuel reserves, so it is almost entirely reliant on imports. To mitigate this, […]

A new study from UC Davis; Land-Sparing Opportunities for Solar Energy Development in Agricultural Landscapes: A Case Study of the Great Central Valley, CA, United States calculates the potential energy generation from Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and photovoltaics (PV) in terawatt hours (TWh) annually in California, by looking only at unwanted land within the Central […]

Source: CSP Focus: Abengoa has developed three solar thermal power plants for electricity generation in the north of the country. Xina Solar One -the last to be constructed- achieved practical completion back in August 2017, and has successfully completed its first three months of operation.  XiNa Solar One, the solar thermal parabolic trough plant that Abengoa has […]

ACWA Power South Africa Deputy Managing Director Nandu Bhula said that he had been personally assured at the Energy Indaba last week that all 27 contracts would be signed “in the next week” Read More …

HeatVentors from Hungary is the winner of this year’s edition of international PowerUp! competition for innovative energy start-ups. Rita Farkas and Zoltán Andrássy presented a solution which offers an innovative thermal energy storage with phase change materials which can save 90% space and 20-40% energy with 0,5-2 years return on investment. The technology has a […]

For Immediate Release: December 2017, Johannesburg, South Africa: South Africa’s Bokpoort CSP celebrates another Production Milestone as the Global Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Drive Intensifies. The CEO for Bokpoort CSP, Mr Ryno Lacock was proud to announce that on the 27th November 2017, the plant clocked production of 1009.31 MWh in a single day. This […]

On 28 November 2017, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), together with international project partners, presented what is currently the largest solar-chemical installation for the production of hydrogen. In the HYDROSOL_Plant project, scientists and companies have jointly further developed the process of direct hydrogen production using solar radiation. By redeveloping both the […]

Long-distance, high-voltage transmission projects have been stymied, but a new transmission strategy would use existing right of ways along railroad tracks. Read More …

No respondents in a Gulf Intelligence Survey believe that EOR will continue to use fossil energy, and a total of 83% of Gulf region envision solar thermal steam like Glasspoint Solar’s Oman PDO Miraah and Bakersfield, California Aera solar EOR projects will be the norm for EOR within just three years The deployment of renewable […]

In October 2017, SolarReserve was first to bid CSP with storage at somewhere “under 5 cents” per kWh in Chile, according to CEO Kevin Smith From New Energy Update: The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of Middle East CSP projects could fall below $50/MWh next year, two of the industry’s leading consultants predicted at CSP […]

Over a period of 3-years, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has been doing R&D-activities on converting energy to heat in rock fill at a testing-unit in Hamburg. Now the company converts its findings into a real scale project. Starting in December, Siemens Gamesa will install the first full scale “Future Energy System – FES” on the […]

United States Department of Energy Funding Opprtunity You have until Monday, December 4 to submit a concept paper for the Solar Desalination funding opportunity. Solar Desalination aims to develop novel technologies or concepts using solar thermal energy to assist in creating freshwater from otherwise unusable waters. Thermal desalination is a potential solution to increase water supplies for municipal […]

In August 2016, SUPCON inaugurated China’s first molten salt tower CSP plant at 10 MW. The 50 MW Qinghai Gonghe CSP plant will be its second Power China’s Qinghai Gonghe 50MW Tower CSP Project, one of China 1st batch 20 pilot CSP projects, is owned and developed by Power Construction Corporation of China (shorted as […]

On Wednesday, Abengoa’s KaXu Solar One concentrated solar power (CSP) project, in South Africa’s Northern Cape, was presented with a Momentum of Change award by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The award was presented at 23rd UN Climate Change Conference, under way in Bonn, Germany. KaXu is a 100MW plant constructed on a […]

Scientists at the Institute for Solar Research tested the particle receiver CentRec for the first time with concentrated solar radiation in the DLR solar thermal power plant in October. In previous tests, the researchers had already irradiated smaller models under laboratory conditions with artificial sunlight. In the Solarturm Jülich, the temperature at the particle outlet of […]

Synlight: Researchers expect that within 10 years, Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) can be used to split water to hydrogen chemically using the world’s desert sun: “Our focus is on the earth’s sun belt, whose rich solar resources are to provide value and prospects to the people living there” Since spring, the sun has been shining […]

WINDHOEK, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) — Namibia has the potential to light up Southern Africa, given its strategic location and ambitious plan for private investments in the power generation sector, according to the Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein. The public sector alone cannot respond to the enormous investment needed to meet the growing demand for electricity in […]

Some key points from the IEA’s World Energy Investment 2017:   Drop in fossil energy spending reduces market share For the first time ever, the electricity sector edged ahead of the oil and gas sector in 2016 to become the largest recipient of energy investment. However oil and gas still represent two-fifths of global energy […]

Time: 16 Nov, 11:00 CET (Check your local time) ATA Webinar: Solar for commercial and industrial (C&I) heat Sign up to attend Heat and steam generation can be complicated to source for industrial players. In fact, for commercial and industrial (C&I) purposes, the demand for heat is vastly superior to the demand for electricity (74% vs 26% respectively).  […]

MUSCAT, Oman–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and GlassPoint Solar, the global leader in solar energy for the oil and gas industry, have completed construction on the first block of the Miraah solar plant safely on schedule and on budget, and has successfully delivered steam to the Amal West oilfield. Upon completion, Miraah will be among the world’s […]

The US$880 million Xina concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Pofadder, South Africa has successfully completed its first month of commercial operation. Mott MacDonald was lenders’ technical advisor during the project’s financing and construction stages and will now monitor operations in an ongoing role. Xina solar plant capacity Awarded during the third round of South Africa’s Renewable […]

A tender that Chile is carrying out to ensure long-term power supply has attracted 24 proposals from companies that offer up to ten times the amount of energy the country planned to buy. The auction, which aims to guarantee an electricity generation of 2,200 GWh from January 2024, should result in “very competitive prices” for […]

SolarReserve this month issued bids in Chile’s latest auction for 24-hour solar under 5 cents per kWh SolarReserve this month issued bids in Chile’s latest auction for 24-hour solar under 5 cents per kWh, according to CEO Kevin Smith in a release posted on Twitter, Saturday. “Irradiation levels in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile […]

By Jason Deign for Greentechmedia Thermal storage hasn’t garnered the level of industry attention lately as battery storage, which is experiencing quickly falling prices and rising deployments. But thermal storage, and molten salt in particular, actually exceeds the capacity of battery storage in operation so far, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency. […]

New Energy Update has published a list of all the CSP projects in the pipeline in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The list includes projects that are already under construction, but also ones that are only in development, or merely announced. While some projects announced or in development may not ultimately get […]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories engineers have developed new fractal-like, concentrating solar power receivers for small- to medium-scale use that are up to 20 percent more effective at absorbing sunlight than current technology. The receivers were designed and studied as part of a Laboratory Directed Research and Development project and are also being applied to Sandia’s […]