High wind loads increase structural design costs of concentrating solar power (CSP) collector structures, such as heliostats and parabolic troughs. In a new two-year project, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will work with the Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to conduct two comprehensive at-scale field measurements […]
Drone monitoring of solar fields is already established for photovoltaic solar. Now a new DLR spinoff – Volateq.de brings drone technology to the very different challenges of monitoring solar field performance, for concentrated solar power (CSP). “There’s a lot of lot of stuff that can go wrong in a CSP plant, components that can fail, […]
By making solar hydrogen as an industrial service for copper mining the scale is established for mass production
Yet another use for industrial solar heat – drying wastewater sludge – attracts study at six-minute solar collector maker Absolicon
Press Release: A consortium that comprises Vast Solar, CyD, Solar Dynamics, Alia Energy Consulting and Critical Engineering, has jointly developed Flexitank, a novel design for high temperature molten salt thermal energy storage tanks used in CSP and standalone thermal energy storage. The Flexitank solves a serious issue in the CSP industry. Due to the impacts […]
The Sun-to-Liquids project has been developed by a consortium integrated by the leading European solar research laboratories and CSP industry leaders: ETH Zurich, DLR, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, IMDEA Energy, HyGear Technology & Services B.V and Abengoa. The aim is to produce renewable transportation fuels from water and CO2 with solar energy: The first synthesis of solar […]
At the 2021 SolarPACES Conference, NamPower generation projects head Grant Muller laid out the national power company’s now finalized plans for a CSP project in Namibia, for between 50 MW and 130 MW, with storage. After 4 years of preparations, it is ready for its first CSP auction in 2022. The small African nation has […]
Biomass gasification using steam and oxygen is an already mature technology for extracting hydrogen, which requires heat at above 700°C. To generate the heat for gasification, traditionally, some of the biomass itself is burnt. But this combustion emits several greenhouse gases, which can be quite high, depending on the carbon and hydrogen content of the […]
A pair of policy researchers at Potsdam University’s Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Germany have a suggestion for policy to advance high temperature Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) technologies. Today’s commercially operating Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is run at temperatures used in thermal electricity production and mid temperature industrial processes; 400°C to 600°C. But policy […]
A new paper to be published in the journal Energy Conversion and Management: X: Using Concentrating-Solar-Power Plants as Economic Carbon-Free Capacity Resources – develops an approach to assessing the capacity contribution from CSP plants with thermal energy storage in a future Southwestern US grid once there is a very high level of other renewables like […]
The Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2021 Photovoltaics and Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power Funding Program (SETO FY21 PV and CSP) funds research and development projects that advance PV and CSP to help eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector. On October 12, 2021, SETO announced that 40 projects were awarded $40 million. Twenty-five of those projects will receive almost $33 million to research and develop CSP technologies that help […]
At the annual SolarPACES Conference (held virtually for the second year) Cerro Dominador’s CEO Fernando Gonzalez answered questions from the international network of concentrated solar power (CSP) researchers and developers attending about exactly what happened in the recent Chilean energy auctions with the record-low bid for CSP at under $34/MWh. How Cerro Dominador bid a […]
At the 101st Ex-Co meeting held October 4th, 2021, PROMES-CNRS Research Director Gilles Flamant was elected as new Chair of the SolarPACES Executive Committee for the next 4-year term. Flamant is an internationally recognized expert in solar thermochemistry who holds 10 patents, has authored or co-authored approximately 300 peer reviewed publications in international scientific journals, authored 10 […]
IEA report calls for the development of national hydrogen strategies and roadmaps, new incentives for low-carbon hydrogen, and new certification requirements alongside increased research and infrastructure spending. Source: Utility Dive Dive Brief: Global electrolyzer capacity for producing hydrogen could reach up to 89 GW by 2030 thanks in part to $37 billion in government spending […]
Spain to launch a third renewable auction – to include Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) – before the end of 2021 October 4, 2021: The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge plans to launch a third renewable auction before the end of the year. According to the Secretary of State for Energy, Sara Aagesen, […]
DLR and CSP Services Win the SolarPACES 2021 Award for their Solar Flux Density Measurement System. New measuring system determines the flux density of receivers in solar tower power plants This year’s SolarPACES Technology Award goes to a team of researchers from the DLR Institute of Solar Research and CSP Services. The measurement method they […]
Have advances in heliostat mirror solar fields enabled record low prices in Morocco and Dubai and low bids like for Likana in Chile?
To expand internationally with its high temperature solar fuels, Synhelion now acquires high temperature solar field experts Heliokon
Out-of-this-world engineering challenges of manufacturing on the Moon hold promise for Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST)
Seramic Materials 100% recycled ceramic stores heat at temperatures up to 1250°C for thermal energy storage or high temperature CST processes
Source: CSP Focus A 3,300 MW solar project in Quinghai Province in China will combine both types of solar; PV and CSP with thermal energy storage, with total investment of 19.575 billion CNY (3 billion USD). The planned total installed capacity is 3.3GW, including 3GW PV, 300MW CSP (600 MW electric heating molten salt thermal […]
Direct solar heat – Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) – is a potential renewable resource for replacing heat from burning fossil fuels for industries like mining, as its technologies generate heat directly from sunlight at anywhere from 150°C to 1500°C. But lack of information on both sides stands in the way of CST being used for […]
Turbochargers were first used to amplify fossil fuel efficiency. Now they could turbocharge solar energy for 100% renewable industrial heat
The 27th SolarPACES conference is coming up on September 27 – October 01! We are excited to inform you that the program of this key event on Solar Power & Chemical Energy Systems is now available online. You will get excellent insight into the newest research and field results in more than 140 talks and 110 poster […]
The online registration is now available on the conference website. As you know, SolarPACES 2021 will be our second online conference, held from September 27 – October 01, 2021. SolarPACES 2020 revealed the many benefits of being online, with more of us able to share our work and participate from our home office, and we expect to make […]
High temperature CSP with very long duration storage in Bauxite particles can top off the 100% renewable grid says Sandia lead solar researcher Cliff Ho
Innovating new energy technologies is more akin to making a movie with a cast and crew of thousands than the stereotype of the one lone inventor in a garage coming up with the whole thing alone. An example is the US Department of Energy grant to try three different pathways to reduce the cost of […]
[This “only pre-commercial” and “over 6 hours” storage RFP would favor thermal energy storage concepts currently near commercial readiness.] The New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) is calling for project submissions to advance, develop or field-test energy storage technologies that can address challenges associated with the cost, performance or technical integration of […]
The scientific journal ‘Energies’ is arranging a Special Issue on ‘Solar Thermochemical Production of Material Commodities’ with a deadline for submissions on 1 September, 2021. We, as guest editors, are pleased to invite you to submit high-quality unpublished contributions on recent advances in applications of concentrated solar radiation to high-temperature industrial processes with a strong […]
What if the molten salts in the thermal energy storage tank could simply be heated directly by concentrated solar energy?
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Robert Pitz-Paal receives Energy Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Robert Pitz-Paal, director at the Institute of Solar Research of the German Aerospace Center, has been named the 2021 recipient of the Frank Kreith Energy Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The award was established in 2005 […]
The ETH spin-off Synhelion is working on commercializing its very high-temperature solar thermochemical fuels (like jet fuel and hydrogen) and has already formed partnerships with several larger firms making cement or aviation fuel to advance step by step towards its goal of 100% carbon neutral fuels by 2030. The company’s latest collaboration is with Wood, […]
SolarPACES 2021: Abstract Submission extended until 22 June! As we have received several requests to extend the deadline for abstract submission, we are providing an extension until Tuesday, June 22nd, 2021! Your scientific or technical abstract (PDF, max 2 pages) should be submitted electronically and provide suitable information to allow the significance and quality of your […]
HELIOGEN RAISES $108 MILLION TO ADVANCE NEW NON-INTERMITTENT RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY FOR HEAT, POWER, AND GREEN HYDROGEN Two funding rounds accelerate global deployment of Heliogen’s breakthrough AI-assisted concentrated solar thermal technology Press Release: PASADENA, California, June 15, 2021 – Heliogen, the renewable energy technology company unlocking the power of sunlight to replace fossil fuels, today announced that it has raised $108 million in […]
How does a solar thermal power plant work? How can solar thermal power plants contribute to security of supply? What role do solar thermal power plants play in an energy system based on renewable energy sources? What skills are required to build and operate solar thermal power plants? Which factors support an accelerated proliferation of […]
SHANGHAI, June 11, 2021 /PRNewswire Shanghai Electric announced positive results of the first molten salt tank hydro test for the Parabolic Trough Plant-II which forms part of the 1GW Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai. The test was carried out on May 9, and its success laid a crucial foundation for the next phase […]
SolarPACES interviewed Bernard Geldenhuys, the Senior Transactor in the Power and Infrastructure team at Investec Bank, a lender with 8,300 employees that has been closely involved in the 100 MW Redstone solar power tower since 2018, when its delayed PPA was signed with Eskom, as the first commercial bank to support the transaction, providing senior […]
By 2050 Chile plans to be carbon neutral. A crucial part of that goal is the decarbonisation of its energy mix. To do this, all coal-fired power plants will stop operating by 2040. To deliver maximum benefit, two additional challenges must be met: replacing Chile’s energy currently produced by coal; and finding a use for the […]
By making solar hydrogen as an industrial service for copper mining, the scale is established for mass production
Ten years as a patent attorney with Exxon Mobil initially predisposed Gary Katz to see purification of “produced water” at oil wells as the market for the off-grid desalination startup he founded and bootstrapped in 2016, aiming to use the industry’s own wasted gas it flares onsite. “We realized there was a big need to […]
The DLR Institute of Solar Research will focus in the 24th Cologne Solar Colloquium on solar process heat from low temperature to high temperature applications. Speakers from research and industry partners will present current usage, future perspectives and will report on their experiences with existing systems. In the context of high temperature solar process heat […]
SolarPACES 2021 – First Announcement and Call for Papers September 27 – October 1, 2021 SolarPACES (Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems) is pleased to announce the SolarPACES 2021 conference to be held from September 27 – October 1, 2021 as an online event. SolarPACES is the premier international network advancing research, development, and commercial deployment of concentrating solar-thermal power […]
PRESS RELEASE ACWA Power has led South Africa’s largest renewable energy project Redstone CSP to financial close The ZAR 11.6 billion Redstone concentrated solar power (CSP) plant will power 200,000 households upon completion Commercial operation scheduled to start in Q4 2023 Johannesburg, South Africa, 10 May 2021: ACWA Power, a leading Saudi developer, investor and […]
Source: Sandia National Laboratories ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A team of researchers from Sandia National Laboratories recently used tethered balloons to collect samples of airborne dust particles to ensure the safety of a falling-particle receiver for concentrating solar power, an emerging solar power technology. (Photo by Randy Montoya) Click on the thumbnail for a high-resolution image. Researchers from […]
A very large-scale long duration energy storage (LDES) idea from MIT envisages a 1 kilometer-long, 60 meter-wide lidded central storage container of rocks sunk 20 meters down into the ground – about the size of 10 football fields if they were laid end to end. The idea is that it could store energy from up […]
Source: El Periódico de la Energía Ramon Roca 04/12/21 “We are proud of this new milestone in the development of our project. Having begun to deliver electricity to the National Electric System shows the reality and benefits of CSP technology. We know that the entry of a new technology to the country is a great responsibility, that […]
DOE workshops educate regulators on long duration energy storage (LDES) A Federal energy project funded through the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity has initiated workshops designed to help state utility regulators determine best practices in policies to enable carbon-free energy storage technologies and, in particular, long duration energy storage, as renewable energy […]
Description On March 25, 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) Fiscal Year 2021 Photovoltaics and Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power (FY21 PV and CSP) funding program, which will provide $39.5 million for projects that will advance solar PV and CSP research and development (R&D) and help eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from the […]
The 2010 SolarPACES Lifetime Award Winner Professor Valeriano Ruiz passed away earlier this week. From SolarPACES we would like to express our sympathy and condolences to his family and friends. Professor Valeriano Ruiz was among the earliest pioneers of solar thermal technology in Spain beginning in the 1970s, including pioneering the teaching of solar concentrating technologies as Professor on Thermodynamics […]
Source: Energy Storage News A US$75 million national research and development (R&D) facility for energy storage is expected to be up and running by 2025, the US Department of Energy (DOE) said yesterday. Called the Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL), 30 separate research laboratories will be hosted at the site including technology prototype testing chambers and […]
A perovskite may be more cost-effective than ceria for solar-driven thermochemical hydrogen production, a new paper suggests. One perovskite formulation that works at a slightly lower temperature than ceria is explored by Xin Qian in the paper Outstanding Properties and Performance of CaTi0.5Mn0.5O3–d for Solar-Driven Thermochemical Hydrogen Production in research funded by the US Department of […]
Researchers at DLR, and NREL, and the Bill Gates-funded start-up Malta have been investigating converting coal plants into grid-scale thermal energy storage for curtailed intermittent renewable energy, as low-cost heat “batteries.” (Thermal energy storage was originally developed as storage for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), but it can alternatively be deployed “standalone” to store energy for […]
Sandia’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility launches R&D Voucher Program to further Concentrating Solar Power technologies January 29, 2021 9:21 pmPublished by Kelly Sullivan Sandia National Laboratories is currently seeking applications from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and individuals to further technologies related to Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility […]
Press Release: schlaich bergermann partner (sbp) The German solar engineering consultancy schlaich bergermann partner (sbp) supplied the EuroTrough solar collector for the 100MW Urat CSP project in Inner Mongolia, the largest commercial parabolic trough project in China. The Urat project was developed and realized as part of the first round of the Chinese renewable energy demonstration […]
The MIT team estimates their thermal “battery” designed for long duration – 100 hours or more – would be half the cost of today’s cheapest grid-scale energy storage; pumped hydro. A very intriguing idea for long-duration gigawatt-scale grid thermal energy storage proposes to store renewable electricity from the grid by charging a “battery” of molten […]
One of the ways to cut costs in thermal energy storage, whether standalone or as part of tower Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is to use heat transfer fluids able to reach higher temperatures, and with a wider working range between hot and cold than today’s molten salts with their working range between “cold” at 290°C […]
Under a new integrated resource plan published by the government in December 2020, Botswana plans to build 200 MW of CSP capacity by 2026. The procurement process will start this year, it said. The plan, which received the backing of Botswana and Namibia government officials and the World Bank, proposed a phased approach to large-scale […]
HelioHeat’s 1,000°C heat at just 1 Cent/kWh potentially ends the use of fossil energy for the production of steel, cement, food and chemicals
HelioHeat’s 1,000°C heat at just 1 Cent/kWh potentially ends the use of fossil energy for the production of steel, cement, food and chemicals
Swedish startup Azelio will see its long-duration Thermal Energy Storage (TES) technology used at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Complex (MBR) in Dubai, UAE. Recycled aluminium alloy is used as a phase change material to store heat which is then converted to electricity. The company’s TES technology stores energy as heat in a […]
Research – and deployment – of low cost and sustainable energy storage technologies are crucial to the long term survival of humans
As a vital component of fertilizers, ammonia (NH3) is the second most-produced industrial chemical in the world. Annual production is around 180 million metric tons and almost 90% of this production goes to meet the global demand for agricultural production. Ammonia is also increasingly seen as a potential green fuel for power production and […]
Reuters: Saudi fund raises ownership stake in ACWA Power to 50% -statement CAIRO/DUBAI (Reuters) – The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, said on Thursday it has increased its stake in ACWA Power to 50% from 33.6% as part of a move to support the renewable energy sector in Saudi Arabia. ACWA […]
Synhelion will produce concentrated solar heat at 1500°C for the cement plant and receive highly concentrated CO2 to produce synthetic fuels
CSP uses thermal power blocks like coal plants, but the advantage is that sunlight is the “fuel” so solar can be stored for very long periods
Webinar: Retrofitting CSP projects to store and integrate variable renewable energy (VRE) in the grid 5 November at 12:00 CET (Check your local time) Spain’s Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (PINEC) targets 74% of power from renewable sources by 2030, with more than 25GW of PV capacity expected to be added by that year. Hybrid […]
South Africa’s Bokpoort performance has been “reliably excellent” SolarPACES spoke with Nandu Bhula who has been with the team responsible for the success of ACWA Power’s 50 MW Bokpoort trough Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant in South Africa since the start, first as CEO while the project was being built, and currently as Chairman of […]
Wednesday October 28th at 12:00 CET CSP is a key player in the renewable energy market, overcoming some of the issues PV plants leave in the dispatch of solar energy. Tower projects with molten salt storage have taken key attention of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) projects, helping to provide dispatchability and flexibility to grid operators.< CSP […]
“With the asymmetry of flux levels from the solar field; why not make the receiver also asymmetric to fit better with that,” she explained.
The American-Made Challenges: Solar Desalination Prize is a four-stage, $9 million prize competition, providing an additional $1 million in support, designed to accelerate the development of low-cost desalination systems that use solar-thermal power to produce clean water from salt water. Competitors will receive cash prizes as they advance through each stage of the competition, culminating […]
Solar PV for electricity is great, but the world needs solar fuels too, fuel for planes, fuel for ships and fuel for steel and cement.
SolarPACES 2020 is coming up soon; starting Monday, 28th September. We are happy to update you on the latest news and program additions. Conference Program The full program of technical and plenary sessions is now available online. More than 400 contributions in the technical program among oral and poster presentations organized in 16 tracks allow a thorough […]
What are the policies that make it possible to actually meet a renewable energy target? Regulators can’t simply decree it happens
Bokpoort’s thermal storage also powered the grid during the critical evening peak of 4pm – 10pm daily with about 82% Peak Hour Load Factor
A state of the art assessment of day or night solar thermochemistry at very high temperatures 1,000ºC to 2,000ºC
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology is being successfully applied to treat wastewater effectively and do so while driving down costs and lower carbon emissions. Source: Rioglass Wastewater treatment is an increasingly complex and resource intensive process. Many operators of wastewater processing plants have been looking for ways to lower their OPEX costs while using less […]
Solatom’s Fresnel solar module is shipped ready to go and connected onsite as a turn-key design to generate steam or high pressure hot water
[Note: SolarPACES previously interviewed the author of this guest post, Kevin Sara, on his firm’s plan to ship solar energy from CSP plants in Tunisia to the EU] Why is Bill Gates backing a Concentrated Solar Power company? What is oil major ENI doing with a CSP start-up? Why has Zurich airport agreed to purchase aviation […]
The online registration is now available on the conference website. SolarPACES (Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems) will be held as an online event from September 28 – October 02, 2020. We strive to make this an opportunity to connect the CSP community in a new way in these challenging times, and hope that even […]
When Bernie Sanders proposed building publicly owned renewables it was dismissed as pie in the sky. But a US agency once did exactly that
Commercializing alumina refining using solar heat Approximately 27% of Australia’s industrial carbon emissions come from alumina refineries, in which fossil fuels are burned to heat the processes. But concentrated solar thermal (CST) could provide up to half of the heat needed. Australian researchers have for the first time demonstrated a novel solar reactor for calcining […]
Australian solar thermal developer Vast Solar has unveiled plans to take its technology into the mainstream, unveiling a $600 million proposal to build a “baseload” solar plant in Mt Isa that will combine solar thermal, solar PV, battery storage and fast-acting gas generators. The plan, being supported and advised by Energy Estate, is to build […]
What if the more bankable trough technology could run on molten salt, like the more efficient tower CSP? Wouldn’t that leverage the best of each technology?
The Zambian subsidiary of the Chinese giant Sinohydro has been chosen to carry out the civil engineering work for the construction of the Kalulushi solar concentration plant (SCP) in the copper belt province. Chinese state-owned Sinohydro is the world’s 14th largest hydropower engineering and construction company. The project is being developed by the Independent Power […]
How do the big objectives announced by the European Commission turn into actionable projects for renewables and storage of hydrogen in the different country members? Which programs that apply to CSP and thermal storage are currently being discussed in Brussels? How can CSP and thermal storage become a commercial reality in the post-covid scenario? In […]
Engineers generally tend to be solutions-oriented, and engineers in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) are no different. A history of making things better than they were is why we now have advanced technologies. As Hal Harvey, founder of Energy Innovation told the NYT opinion columnist Tom Friedman: “A prime difference between the Enlightenment and the Dark […]
The IEA Clean Energy Transitions Summit on 9 July will bring together countries representing the vast majority of the global economy The year’s largest global gathering on energy and climate issues aims to support a resilient and sustainable economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis Ministers from countries representing the vast majority of global GDP, energy use […]
The China Dunhuang Dacheng 50MW molten salt linear Fresnel CSP project plant has now officially begun commercial operation on June 19, 2020. To celebrate the occasion of commercial operation of the first ever molten salt Fresnel CSP occasion, the developers and contractors held a commissioning ceremony. Pioneers molten salt for Fresnel CSP This project is […]
Abengoa plans to “bolt-on” novel low-cost storage to some of the first Spanish trough CSP plants, that were built without storage
The research team found that a redox process produced higher solar-to-fuel efficiency than steam or dry solar methane reforming with a metal alloy catalyst
Two teams of solar researchers have developed a novel solar reactor and thermochemical process for making solar hydrogen that can generate in addition carbon black and graphite as well as carbon nanotubes. Working over a six-year period, the teams first developed the specific solar reactor, and then subsequently, the thermochemistry for the (patent pending) novel […]
Synhelion is developing technology to produce synthetic gas from air and sunlight. This can be processed into fuel that can be burned in standard engines
SolarPACES 2020 Abstract Submission Extended: May 11 Due to the current situation, we are providing a short extension of the submission deadline until Monday, May 11, 2020. To present a paper, an extended abstract should be submitted electronically and should provide suitable information to allow the significance and quality of your work to be determined. Review criteria include […]
Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the launch of the $9 million American-Made Challenges: Solar Desalination Prize, a competition to accelerate the development of systems that use solar-thermal energy to produce clean water from very-high-salinity water. “The U.S. has the technical knowledge, vision, and talent it takes to develop solar-powered […]
Colocating PV and CSP to share the CSP thermal storage could be widely applicable as energy grids become more saturated with renewables
If one “solar refinery” manufactured all the aviation fuel needed for the entire world from CO2+H2O captured from air using solar energy – all in just one site, the solar field would stretch for example, from Paraburdoo to Capricorn in the Western Australian desert
An optimal power system portfolio for the US state of California that would drive the world’s fifth largest economy towards greenhouse gas reduction goals for 2030 and then to zero carbon by 2040, includes 1GW of long duration energy storage, an analyst has highlighted. The roadmap includes around 25GW of new renewable generation, PV […]
CSP+TES match a 100% clean grid best fit needs: flexibility, reliability, dispatchability, durability but utilities don’t know how to procure them
A Swiss startup is working on commercializing two routes to solar jet fuel – to market first by 2022, and by 2030, from direct air capture of CO2 and H2O
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, […]
As electricity grids include more intermittent renewables to meet 100% clean energy goals – utilities look beyond batteries to CSP+TES
A completely new way to dry cool solar thermal power plants, inspired by commercially available underground heat pumps used to cool buildings
Spain’s solar generation from Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) continues to increase as operating experience continues to increase efficiency
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 […]
HELIOVIS has been running a demo plant in Spain for two years demonstrating their novel low-cost blow-up plastic tube solar collector for CSP. The small startup is fighting hard to get the industry-scale financial backing needed to introduce the technology and to make commercial sales. https://www.solarpaces.org/how-csp-works/ “We developed a solar collector that replaces the conventional […]
Wet cooling of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants would be preferable if there was plenty of available water, because it promotes greater thermal efficiency. However, most CSP tends to be built in very arid regions, and so for environmental reasons, developers increasingly get these solar thermal power projects permitted only by planning less-efficient dry cooling. […]
A star shape allows for double sided flux exposure in the receiver, a way to allow for increased flux density limits in standard tower CSP
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 […]
Testing laboratories in Germany, France and Spain have confirmed the effectiveness of a new high-performance (97% absorbance) optical coating developed by Brightsource Energy, that can be “solar-cured” directly atop the receiver of tower CSP, like Brightsource is building as part of the ACWA Power 700 MW DEWA CSP project in the UAE for the Dubai […]
The innovative pentagonal Stellio heliostat has gone from lab to commercial deployment in China’s Hami CSP project in record time
Unlike in other countries, Chile’s open auctions have no subsidies or technology restrictions, pitting CSP against combined cycle gas turbine power plants
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 […]
Surplus solar or wind to heat thermal storage would be a win-win, meeting changing market needs to store renewables – while transitioning fossil energy
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 […]
This week, the Cerro Dominador Group/EIG Global Energy Partners bought the Likana Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project from US-based SolarReserve, which was unable to complete the project. SolarReserve had already developed Likana by accomplishing the preliminary work of siting and monitoring local DNI and taking it through Chile’s environmental permitting process, but was unable to […]
At the 2019 SolarPACES Conference, Vast Solar took the SolarPACES Technical Innovation Award for their use of high temperature sodium-based HTF in tower CSP, presented in their paper: Vast Solar: improving performance and reducing cost and risk using high temperature modular arrays and sodium heat transfer fluid. Their design appears like a small modular tower […]
For countries such as Japan or South Korea with poor DNI and little space for wind and solar, the value of hydrogen is that it can be made overseas with renewable energy, then stored and shipped, and used to produce electricity, heat, or propulsion. This way, regardless of local solar or wind resource, any economy […]
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
Which Middle East and North Africa (MENA) nations could decarbonize industrial heat with Concentrated Solar Heat (CSH) most cost-effectively? World Bank energy consultant Elena Cuadros and Fraunhofer’s Pedro Horta supplied very detailed calculations showing where CSH could be substituted at a lower cost than fossil fuels by comparing CSH costs to specific fossil fuel costs currently […]
Supcon has completed its second CSP Tower project, the 50 MW Gonghe project at record speed – just under a year and a half
Cutting risk in financing will be the next key to further cut CSP costs, according to the author of Non-recourse project financing for concentrated solar thermal power published in the journal Utilities Policy. Dr. Steven Geroe teaches Energy and Environmental Law and Contract Law at Melbourne’s La Trobe Law School, and became interested in China’s […]
Researchers propose combining a solar receiver with energy storage within one unit on the ground, by using a beam-down optical reflecting system
Iron, nickel, alumina and copper mining processes are among the industrial processes that require heat at between 700°C and 1000°C. The advanced concentrated solar thermal (CST)reactors being developed by researchers globally can attain temperatures this high (and higher, up to 1500°C). But CEOs in mining and mineral processing industries are more familiar with fuel combustion […]
SolarPACES 2018 Proceedings Now Published with AIP The SolarPACES 2018 conference proceedings are now published with AIP, the American Institute of Physics (www.aip.org), volume number 2126. All accepted papers are freely accessible on the AIP website and contain an ISBN number for the volume as well as individual DOI numbers for each paper. The proceedings […]
China has an ambitious proposal for a global HVDC grid to transfer renewable energy throughout the world. Interconnected regional electricity networks would be connected to a backbone of HVDC lines that would become a globe-spanning super grid by 2050. Advancing the idea is China’s Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDO). The concept depends on […]
A preliminary study of the average cost of a novel process for producing solar hydrogen in several locations in Australia finds it could come close to the US DOE renewable hydrogen target of $3 per kilogram. The way that hydrogen is reformed from natural gas is a well-established, low-cost process. But greenhouse gases are emitted […]
Charcoal might seem like a very low tech product, but lithium batteries, water filtration and super-capacitors are among its high tech end uses, and the requirements for these different purposes are actually very exacting. Solar researchers in Mexico are investigating the various temperatures and the rate of heat needed to make different biochars from agricultural […]
“Our “back of the envelop” communication with researchers is that $3 per gallon of gasoline equivalent (GGE) per kilogram of hydrogen could be obtainable,” said Al Maaitah.
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 […]
Morocco’s 800 MW CSP-PV Noor Midelt breaks last year’s auction price record of 7.3 cents set by DEWA in the UAE, with winning bid at USD 7 cents/kWh The Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN) has announced that the consortium of EDF Renewables, Masdar, and Green of Africa – a joint venture between three Moroccan […]
Standalone thermal storage: “Incredibly cheap grid-scale storage with a very long calendar life” The new Venture Capital (VC) firm Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) only invests in technologies they vet as both “scientifically feasible at scale” and with the potential to reduce “at least half a gigaton of greenhouse gases every year.” Along with Alfa Laval […]
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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 […]
Retiring coal power plants could see a new life serving the green economy by storing renewable energy as thermal batteries, delivering the stored energy back to the grid using the former coal plant’s existing power blocks and grid connections. Leveraging the low cost of the molten salt thermal energy storage used in CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) […]
A study commissioned by the Chilean government and presented before the SolarPACES Conference in Morocco makes data available to potential participants in a Chilean CSP industry. The study, Local Content in CSP:CST Projects- Assessment of the Chilean Industry is designed to put together useful information for both international CSP developers bidding in auctions and local […]
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. […]
China could be the first to deploy s-CO2 in CSP The world’s initial Concentrated SolarPower (CSP) plants continue to use the legacy steam cycles of conventional thermal plants. But steam cycle is a mature technology with temperature-based efficiency limits, hampering the potential to raise efficiency and lower costs. Consequently, international researchers have investigated a new […]
Algae is a potential energy feedstock that is synergistic with solar fuels because algae can be grown in salt water on cheap desert land with a good solar resource, and it also contains the chemicals needed for making solar fuels (hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen). Research is ongoing into reducing the cost of farming algae. To […]
The tower form of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is very young technology. Less than a gigawatt is deployed globally, making it a nascent technology at the “Cambrian explosion” stage; multiple innovations are still being explored to cut costs. (How tower CSP works) A new economic study looks at reducing its Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) […]
Thermal energy stored in steel slag could replace fossil fuels used for heat in steel production
With China in the game, the outlook for the technology has gone from from gloomy to better than ever – however it also carries great risk
Renewable energy researchers have been looking into how to cut CO2 emissions from processing industrial minerals like cement and lime, as these are responsible for a high share of the global greenhouse gas emissions. For every 10 tons of cement we produce, we release 9 tons of CO2, with much of that through the burning […]
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 […]
Instead of running air conditioners on fossil-fueled electricity, University of Bergamo researchers Guiseppe Franchini and Antonio Perdichizzi propose an alternative cooling technology; using a thermal form of solar energy to provide solar district cooling in the Saudi Kingdom. Their study of the economics of solar district cooling was published at Energy Conversion and Management, in […]
How CSP Works: Tower, Trough, Fresnel or Dish
Q & A: DLR’s Christian Sattler on the Role of Solar Thermochemistry in Green Hydrogen Production
Desert Solar to Fuel Centuries of Air Travel
How CSP’s Thermal Energy Storage Works
How Solar Peaker Plants Could Replace Gas Peakers
CSP Doesn’t Compete With PV – it Competes with Gas
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