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 […]
The moment the market received a signal that a large number of gigawatts would be tendered, “costs came crashing down. That is what CSP arguably needs, and I think we’re not that far from that point.” CSP Today reports: The tender process favored by the likes of Chile and Dubai has done more than anything […]
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 […]
A new solar technology is twice as efficient, cutting the cost of solar thermal energy, by raising operating temperatures to 1,000°C, almost twice the 565°C molten salt temperature in current concentrated solar power (CSP) tower plants. For most innovative research in clean energy, the dreaded “Valley of Death” after lab scale success is the sad […]
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 […]
Ammonia (NH3) is key to enabling the solar hydrogen (H2) future, says a prominent Australian researcher. Solar fuel could be stored, bottled and shipped globally in ammonia
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, […]
What part will solar thermochemistry play in building a future hydrogen economy? For an overview, we checked with a top solar hydrogen expert, Christian Sattler, who holds 18 patents and has authored 158 peer-reviewed papers. Sattler heads the Department of Solar Chemical Engineering at the Institute of Solar Research at Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und […]
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”
Mintek pyrometallurgy engineer Lina Hockaday is trying a highly focused solar reactor to replace the fossil energy used as part of the steelmaking process
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.
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 […]
As prices for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) with thermal energy storage dropped an astonishing 50% between May and November this year, it seemed that 2017 saw the kind of price breakthrough that could allow CSP to compete with traditional thermal power in supplying dispatchable electricity. CSP is the heat-based form of solar, which generates power […]
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 […]
GlassPoint will build an 850 MW (thermal) solar thermal facility in Bakersfield, generating 12 million barrels of emissions-free steam annually for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) replacing natural gas.
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 […]
Thermochemical solar fuel manufacturing would be an energy industry with a life of centuries, rather than decades. The feedstock of sunlight, carbon dioxide and water is essentially unlimited. Scientists with the SOLAR-JET Project have demonstrated the first-ever entire process to make kerosene, the jet fuel used by commercial airlines, using a high-temperature thermal solar reactor […]
ACWA Power’s latest record-low contract signed with DEWA at just over 7 cents per kWh is no outlier, according to CEO Paddy Padmanathan. CSP is a thermal form of solar that typically includes thermal storage in a power block so that it can generate power at any time, not just when the sun shines.
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 […]
Heat represents three-quarters of industrial energy demand worldwide, and half of it is of low to medium-high temperature The IEA has just released its report IEA INSIGHTS 2017 Renewable Energy for Industry(pdf) Highlights from the IEA report with relevance for CSP: Activity is accelerating with respect to solar heat for industries. While the deployment of […]
If you could capture the sun, this gigantic thermal energy storage tank is what that looks like
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). […]
BY AVI SHULTZ Dr. Avi Shultz is the acting program manager for the United States Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Initiative Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) team, which supports research, development, and demonstration of solar thermal components and systems that can enable wide-spread deployment of low-cost CSP with thermal energy storage. Every day our power needs […]
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 […]
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) prices dropped in 2017, from under 10 cents per kWh in May, to under 5 cents by October. CSP is a form of thermal solar energy that can power day or night, because its intrinsic ability to store its energy thermally enables it to dispatch power at any time.(How CSP Thermal […]
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 […]
An aerospace engineer has built a machine to make water and oxygen from the lunar regolith, powered by solar energy. Thorsten Denk’s paper Design and Test of a Concentrated Solar Powered Fluidized Bed Reactor for Ilmenite Reduction was presented at the 23rd Annual SolarPACES Conference in Chile. (Thorsten Denk – Presentation (pdf) Working over a ten year […]
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 […]
ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREE ), has began processes to help Ghana exploit the abundant solar thermal energy potential for domestic and industrial use. Ghana’s geographic location around the equatorial sun-belt provides strategic advantage to exploit the abundant solar energy resources to fix its energy needs. The exploitation and installation of […]
Solar can be designed to run only after dark at a competitive price with a current natural gas peaker plant. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) can be a night-only dispatchable (D-CSP) plant; with its entire solar energy absorbed by day to be delivered after dark to cover the evening peak load on the grid, according to a study funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE).
Senate Bill 338, which mandates that utilities come up with non-gas generation options to meet peak demand, was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. California has put its utilities on notice: When you’re putting together your next integrated resource plans, you’d better have non-gas generating options for meeting peak demand. That’s what Governor Jerry […]
Australia has some of the highest readings in the world for Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) the solar radiation used in Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST). The Queensland government has received 115 proposals from 79 different firms for its recently launched tender for the “Renewables 400” program. Among them are dispatchable concentrated solar thermal (D-CST) proposals with […]
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) used in a solar thermal power plant is often portrayed as being in competition with solar PV, but in practice it really competes with the other thermal power plants like natural gas and coal. Here’s why:
Sandia scientists find the optimal way to mop up surplus solar flux on CSP towers Excess solar flux could be harnessed and used to generate additional electricity at a tower CSP plant, by cladding part of the tower containing the receiver with photovoltaic (PV) panels, according to Sandia scientist Cliff Ho. He found that adding […]
Robert Pitz-Paal is elected new SolarPACES Chair Univ.-Prof. Dr-Ing. Robert Pitz-Paal was unanimously appointed as the new Chair of the SolarPACES Executive Committee for the next 2-year term at the 93rd ExCo meeting held October 1st 2017 in Calama (Chile). Pitz-Paal was previously vice chairman of the executive committee of SolarPACES. He has been one of two directors […]
Thank you for participating in SolarPACES 2017 SolarPACES 2017 was held successfully in Santiago de Chile. We were happy to welcome participants from 38 countries! We would like to thank everyone for attending the conference. Thanks to all authors for their high quality contributions. Also many thanks to the scientific committee for their dedicated support […]
American citizens had no water after Category 5 Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, a US Territory How we talk about the climate crisis matters. A recent study found that not nearly enough Americans discuss the climate crisis – on a regular basis. A survey by Yale and George Mason University researchers found that only 19% of Americans hear […]
CSP industry and researchers at SolarPACES 2017 Conference Subprogram: Soft Costs Funding Number: Request for Information: DE-FOA-0001818 The SunShot Initiative has issued a request for information (RFI) to gather insights about integrated data and analysis needs across the solar value chain. The goal is to better understand the information-related problems and questions that exist today for key solar […]
. DOE-backed startup Skysun aims to do away with fiddly motors and support structures By Jason Deign for Greentechmedia Just when it looked like concentrated solar power (CSP) couldn’t get cheaper, a U.S.-based startup says it’s found a way of cutting heliostat costs by a third. Skysun, of Bay Village, Ohio, is aiming to achieve the […]
Khi Solar One began operations in 2016 September 29 (Renewables Now) – Abengoa SA (BME:ABG) moved to positive EBITDA of EUR 16 million (USD 18.9m) in the first half of 2017, compared to negative EUR 59 million a year earlier, attributing the improvement to efforts to cut overhead costs. Had it not been for one-offs, […]
The giant 700 MW project in Dubai will combine tower and trough technologies and use scale and local infrastructure synergies to set a new benchmark price of $73/MWh for CSP with storage, Andrea Lovato, ACWA Power’s Executive Director of Business Development, told New Energy Update. ACWA Power will use learnings from its Noor CSP project […]
Dispatchable solar; the kind of solar that can operate on demand at any time day or night saw prices tumble to astonishing new lows in 2017. From a starting point of 31 cents per kWh in 2006 – this year, four new bids broke low price records culminating in 6 cents. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), also […]
Europe already imports energy long-distance: via natural gas pipelines from Russia. TuNur plans round-the-clock solar via HVDC from Tunisia
Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and China’s Shanghai Power have been selected as the winners in the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) competitive auction, for the world’s largest concentrated solar power (CSP) plant at 700 MW. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, hailed the launch of the world’s largest plant, a […]
CSP Plaza is reporting: Beijing Shouhang IHW Resources Saving Technology Co., Ltd. just signed a Cooperation Framework Agreement on Jointly Developing CSP Business with CNNP Liaoning Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. (CNLNPC). In the announcement posted late night the same day the agreement is signed, Shouhang cites to establish a joint venture with CNLNPC, through which the two […]
On September 14th, the National Energy Administration officially released the “Chinese 1 GW Demonstration Project Short List”, with total installed capacity of 1GW, including 9 tower plants, 7 parabolic trough plants and 4 Fresnel plants. a total of 20 projects in the short list of the first batch of China CSP demonstration projects. Very tight […]
Energy Department Announces Achievement of SunShot Goal, New Focus for Solar Energy Office WASHINGTON, D.C. – In conjunction with the annual Solar Power International conference, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released new research today that shows the solar industry has achieved the 2020 utility-scale solar cost target set by the SunShot Initiative. Largely due to rapid […]
China’s first commercial concentrated solar power plant has begun a test run and is scheduled to send power to the grid by the end of this year, said the operator on Monday. The Delingha solar thermal power station operated by the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) in northwestern province of Qinghai made its first […]
Subprogram: Concentrating Solar Power Funding Number: DE-FOA-0001821 The SunShot Initiative intends to release a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) for solar desalination technology, which supports research, development, and potential demonstration of early- stage technologies that can significantly reduce the costs of desalination powered by solar thermal energy. Rather than utilizing high-value electricity as an energy input, solar thermal desalination […]
South Africa’s acclaimed Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) Programme has stalled for more than two years as Eskom refused to sign PPAs with 37 IPPs
TuNur Ltd has filed a request in the Tunisian Ministry of Energy, Mines and Renewable Energy for the authorization of a 4.5GW solar energy export project destined to fuel Europe.
Research was key to the low price record of 6 cents for dispatchable solar thermal energy at Port Augusta: SolarReserve According to Kevin Smith, the CEO of California-based SolarReserve; the company that is first to sell CSP at 6 cents/kWh, the record-low CSP price was largely due to their receiver and heliostat research. The 150 MW […]
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has released funding to the Argonne National Laboratory for a scaled-up round of independent testing of Terrafore Technologies’ innovative encapsulated thermal energy storage in phase change salts, designed to operate in temperatures to greater than 800°C in a single tank that acts as both storage and heat exchanger.
By Roger Lilley for EE Publishers. With yet another renewable energy (RE) project completed on time and on budget, one has to wonder why the Departments of Energy (DoE) and Public Enterprises (DPE) tolerate Eskom’s continued refusal to sign additional power producer agreements. It is especially puzzling since the latest REIPPP energy price bids that […]
Most coverage of SolarReserve’s 150 MW Aurora solar thermal power plant in Port Augusta completely overlooked its biggest news: the South Australian Government just bought the world’s cheapest solar thermal energy. Just 6 cents per kilowatt hour. SolarReserve will sell solar thermal energy to the South Australian Government at $75 (AUD) with a guaranteed cap […]
A Fraunhofer study comparing annual energy yields per square meter has found that solar thermal collectors will produce on average about three times as many kilowatt hours from the same amount of space as photovoltaic solar. The study was conducted by Florian Dallhammer and Christoph Kost from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Germany, […]
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) just reached the US Department of Energy 2020 SunShot goal of 6 cents for dispatchable solar
Given Germany’s lack of desert sun, it might seem improbable that thermal solar would be a key component of its low-carbon grid planning under its Energiewende (energy transition). But several papers published in 2016 found that concentrated solar power (CSP) will be essential.
With annual solar radiation at 3,500kWh per square meter, akin to what you see in outer space, it is no surprise that Chile is a world leader in solar energy production. The nation is also in a position to lead the world in CSP
Unlike other CSP developers who leverage the heat of the sun as the “fuel” for a power block that then generates electricity to the grid; GlassPoint’s enclosed troughs are simply employed in the direct production of steam, focusing on what the company sees as an ignored market for heat.
Chile will be next to benefit from an analysis; developed in Germany, of optimal clean energy grid options A new computational tool will be used by international researchers at SolarPACES to calculate the best technology mix of generation resources to most cost-effectively cover Chile’s load curve. The modeling tool was initially developed at Aachen University, […]
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) issued on 15 January 2017 a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a 200MW CSP plant, the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The lowest bid has come in at 9.45 US cents/kWh. The three other bids ranged from 10.58 cents to 17.35 cents. DEWA […]
The 2010 SolarPACES Lifetime Award Winner Arnold Goldman passed away earlier this week. From SolarPACES we would like to express our sympathy and condolences to his family and friends. May 31, 2017 The solar industry lost a beloved innovator this week with the passing of Arnold Goldman, founder of BrightSource Energy and Luz International. More than thirty years ago, Mr. […]
CORFO has teamed up with ATA Insights to offer you a webinar to analyze the opportunities and challenges of a Solar Energy Program with the goal of reaching US $50 MWh by 2025, allowing CSP to become the primary reliable and affordable technology of the Chilean energy mix.
Dates: 5 days –16-20 October 2017
Location: University of Seville, Spain
Registration deadline: 15 September 2017
NREL is organizing two new System Advisor Model (SAM) webinars in May. SAM webinars are one-hour lectures with question and answer sessions that cover various topics about SAM. All webinars are free and start at 2 pm Mountain. To register for a webinar, click its name in the following list: Overview of New Industrial Process Heat […]
On Friday 5 May, The International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has condemned the Kingdom of Spain to pay €128 million to Eiser Infrastructure Limited and its affiliate Energia Solar Luxembourg due to the reforms undertaken by the Spanish Government affecting the renewable sector. The Spanish Energy Ministry is considering an appeal […]
Images by the award-winning artist Jamey Stillings have become so widely used that it is not uncommon to see news stories about solar energy illustrated by a tower surrounded by mirrors, rather than the much more widely deployed PV.
Discussion of currently used practices for: Creation of Meteorological Data Sets for CSP/STE Performance Simulations
A new technical report “Concentrating Solar Power Gen3 Demonstration Roadmap” was released in January 2017 by NREL in the context of the SunShot Initiative – a program launched in 2011 in the U.S. aiming at making solar thermal electricity cost-competitive with power from conventional power generation technologies by 2020. The report can be downloaded here. This roadmap […]
Solar thermal energy (STE), often named Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), is expected to play an important role in the world’s future electricity supply. Thermal energy storage, an essential part of a concentrating solar thermal power plant, allows for decoupling of solar energy harvest and subsequent electricity production. By this means, demand oriented power production can […]
The 23rd SolarPACES Conference to be held in Santigo de Chile, Chile, will take place from 26th to 29th of September 2017 at the Hotel W Santiago.
SFERA II Training course for CSP professionals on: Optical and Thermal Component Testing of Parabolic Troughs and Influence on System Efficiency Location: Plataforma Solar de Almería, 04200 Tabernas, Spain Date: 24.-28.04.2017 Target group: The course is designed for representatives from the CSP industry and companies (engineers, researchers) who want to be trained on real CSP hardware. Participants […]
NREL is asking for your help with the stewardship of the System Advisor Model, or SAM (https://sam.nrel.gov/). SAM’s CSP modules include parabolic trough, linear Fresnel, steam and molten-salt power towers, and dish/Stirling technologies. SAM updates are released roughly once per year and in addition to code enhancements, the SAM team endeavors to keep the default […]
All the most important European concentrated solar energy R&D infrastructures are participating in the ‘Solar Facilities for the European Research Area Second Phase (SFERA II)’ Project, funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Program ‘Capacities‘, Specific Program ‘Research Infrastructures’. Since one of the goals of this project concerns trans-national access, the most relevant European R&D infrastructures […]
Two interesting workshops will take place during SolarPACES 2016 Congress on October 13th. These workshops are part of the activities planned in the work packages WP3 and WP5 of the project STAGE-STE (www.stage-ste.eu). Basic information about these two workshops, which are specially aimed at the industrial sector, is given below: – WP3 workshop: Thursday 13th […]
On September 1, 2016，China National Development and Reform Commission issued the notice of feed-in tariff policy for CSP plant. According to the document, the feed-in tariff for the solar thermal power demonstration projects is ￥1.15/kWh. The notice pointed out that the above price is only applicable to the first batch of demonstration projects organized and […]
September 13th, National Energy Administration issued a notice on the construction of concentrating solar power generation demonstration projects, up to 20 projects were included in this first demonstration project list and the status showed that the capacity was around 1.35GW . There are 9 tower projects, 7 parabolic trough projects and four Fresnel project, no […]
Place: IMDEA Energy Institute Parque Tecnológico de Móstoles Avda. Ramón de la Sagra 3 28935 Móstoles, Madrid Date: September 14th 2016 Description: One of the main advantages of solar thermal power plants (STE) against other renewable technologies is that they currently have commercial storage systems with large capacities. Nevertheless there is still a long way to walk, not […]
The post-doctoral position is opened to PhD holder with a high level scientific background in thermodynamic cycles, heat transfers and fluid dynamics. The candidate must have a previous professional experience in solar thermal energy systems and skills in modelling and numerical simulation. Capabilities in using Matlab® environment or equivalent are required. Perfectly fluent English language […]
The Cyprus Institute is currently advertising vacancies for administrative and research positions within our Solar Energy research group: 1. Project Officer for Solar Energy and Desalination Group: http://jobboard.cyi.ac.cy/?q=node/452 2. Postdoctoral fellow for concentrated solar power: http://jobboard.cyi.ac.cy/?q=node/437 3. Computational scientist (Postdoc – HPC for energy): http://jobboard.cyi.ac.cy/?q=node/248 If you require further information please email n.jarraud@cyi.ac.cy and cc energy@cyi.ac.cy.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 – 10:00 am – 12:30 pm Messe München Hall B1, Room B12 The workshop will give an overview on the current CSP market and perspectives and European R&D activities in this field. In this context it will inform about the EU Solaris project, which aims to promote and develop further the R&D […]
Scientists at the DLR Institute of Solar Research and the Spanish research center CIEMAT ended successfully a three-year trial period for the aging behavior of different protective coatings on aluminum mirrors and derived a methodology for accelerated aging. Aluminium-based solar mirrors can be a cost-effective alternative to traditional solar glass mirrors. In spite of the […]
The University of Granada, Infrastructure for Sustainable Development (i4sd) and Social Entrepreneurship School (SES) are pleased to organize the Engineering for Sustainable Development Forum in Granada on 29-30 September 2016. This Forum is addressed to researchers, professionals from the private sector and public agencies and anyone interested in the areas of sustainable development, climate change, renewable energy, water, sustainable […]
Location: TU Wien, AUSTRIA Date: 29-30 September 2016 Scientific Scope and Range of Topics: The aim of the seminar is to bring together researchers and industry participants working in the field of Supercritical CO2 (sCO2) Power Systems. The topics of the seminar include: – System Concepts – Thermodynamics, System Modeling and Control – Heat Transfer and Fluid dynamics […]
The Cyprus Institute’s Linear Fresnel Solar Energy System for Built Environment of the Novel Technologies Laboratory (NTL) building was inaugurated by the Honorable Minister of Finance, Harris Georgiades, on April 11. The Minister in his address stressed that research and innovation can and should have a very important role in a new economic model for Cyprus and that […]
After the success of the SFERA 2 training courses in Spain (PSA) and Italy (ENEA) about direct steam generation and molten salts in parabolic trough, we are pleased to present training on central receivers with focus on the operation of heliostat fields. This year’s course takes place at CNRS – PROMES test facilities in Odeillo, southern France […]
CfP in Minisymposium in Modelling and Simulation in Solar Thermal Power Plants in EUROSIM2016 Conference. One of the most important international conferences on Modelling and Simulation (M&S), the EUROSIM conference, will be held this year in Finland from 12 to 16 of September (EUROSIM2016). Theoretical and practical novelties in different areas of interest (methodologies, functionalities and application domains) […]
ANU presently has four research-intensive positions available in the solar thermal group. Details are as follows: The positions focus on different aspects including development of low-cost heliostats and high-performance solar receivers (sodium receivers and boilers, bladed receivers), and system modelling of entire concentrating solar thermal plants. The four roles are described as follows: Position 1: […]
This testing guideline specifies the recommended accelerated aging conditions to reproduce realistic degradation mechanisms on aluminum reflectors, which have been observed during a 3 year outdoor exposure testing campaign at 9 exposure sites with 9 different aluminum reflector types (7 of them protected with a SiO2 based sol-gel coating, 2 of them protected by a […]
A new distinguished tenured Professorship open now at CyI in the field of CSP (see: http://jobboard.cyi.ac.cy/?q=node/78), funded by a prestigious and well endowed EU – ERA chair scheme. As stated in the announcement, this position aims to attract to CyI a leading scientist, of truly international standing, to lead the activities in the field of solar […]
The Solar Thermal Electricity Global Outlook 2016 report is released by Greenpeace International, SolarPACES and ESTELA (European Solar Thermal Electricity Association) and shows that solar thermal electricity (STE) could supply as much as 12 percent of the world’s power needs by 2050. It also shows how STE could create millions of jobs. The report modelled several […]
SolarPACES is promoting the 22nd SolarPACES Conference, to be held from 11-14 October 2016 in Abu Dhabi, at the World Future Energy Summit 2016. In the picture, from right to left: Dr. Nicolas Calvet and Abdulaziz Alobaidli, Executive Committee Alternate and Representative from UAE respectively, with researchers from Masdar Institute and MIT at the SolarPACES booth. The World […]
The Government of Greece has recently accepted the invitation from the Executive Committee of the IEA’s Technology Collaboration Programme Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems (SolarPACES), extended at its meeting on March 24, 2015 in Rome, Italy, to join the SolarPACES programme.
1) Techno-economic Consultant to assist NamPower with the feasibility of CSP plants in NamPower. The funding for the Techno-economic Consultant will be financed by Sustainability 4All thought the EIB. The Procurement notice has been published on the EIB website and NamPower website. http://www.nampower.com.na/Tenders.aspx Short description of procurement notice: NamPower, the national power utility of Namibia, has embarked […]
The 2016-2017 Calls of Horizon 2020 have been published and are available at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/home.html
On the closing day of the SolarPACES 2015 Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, the Stellio Consortium, comprising schlaich bergermann partner sbp sonne, Ingemetal Solar and Masermic Mechatronics, received the SolarPACES 2015 Technology Innovation Award for the development of the Stellio Heliostat. Click here for further information on the SolarPACES awards
SolarPACES Annual Report 2014 – Task II Chapter
The roadmap to solar fuels project aims at enhancing industry involvement in solar fuels production and promoting market penetration of the most mature solar fuels technologies. For this purpose, two sun-rich countries – Australia and South Africa – have initially been chosen to organize workshops together with external SolarPACES experts, with the aim of presenting to targeted local industry […]
Postdoctoral Researchers position in SERC-Chile SERC-Chile is now accepting two postdoctoral researchers. Both postdoctoral positions offered are best suited for graduated PhDs interested in any of the already mentioned research lines and willing to live and work in Chile. Furthermore, the positions will entail collaborative work among SERC´s research lines and other centers, and the production […]
The webinar on: “Solar driven thermochemical production of sustainable fuels” will be a joint collaboration between ISES and STAGE-STE with the participation of partners from PSI, ETH/USP, DLR and IMDEA, and will take place on April 17th 2015 at 13:00 UTC. For more details and free registration please visit the following link: http://www.ises.org/index.php?id=270
In this report, KIC InnoEnergy examines how technology innovation is anticipated to reduce the Levelised Cost of Electricity from European Solar Thermal Electricity plants over the next 12 to 15 years. You can download the report in our Library section.
Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2014 aims to reduced uncertainty about the true costs of renewable power generation technologies, so that governments can be more ambitious and efficient in their policy support for renewables. You can download the report in our Research Results: Publications and Reports
Participants: Centro de Investigación en Energía de la Univ. Nacional de México (CIE-UNAM) (MEX) Contact: Antonio E. Jiménez González (ajg@cie.unam.mx) Camilo A. Arancibia-Bulnes (caab@cie.unam.mx) Funding: CONACYT, PAPIIT-UNAM Duration: continuing Background: For more than a decade researchers at CIE-UNAM have been investigating the degradation of water pollutants by means of solar assisted heterogeneous photocatalysis and photo-Fenton […]
Participants: CIEMAT-PSA (ES), UNED (ES), ICP-CSIC (ES), ICV-CSIC (ES), USACH (Chile), University of Wisconsin (USA). Contact: Benigno Sánchez, CIEMAT-PSA, benigno.sanchez@ciemat.es Funding: Madrid Region Autonomous Government (CAM): 700 k€ Duration: January 1, 2006 – December 31, 2009 Background: Unpleasant odors released from sewage plants hinder the social acceptance of wastewater treatment facilities. These emissions contain among […]
Participants: Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (coordinator, IE); University of Ulster (UK); Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, (South Africa); Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (CH); The Institute of Water and Sanitation Development (Zimbabwe); CIEMAT-PSA (Spain); University of Leicester (UK); The International Commission for the Relief of Suffering & Starvation (Kenya); […]
Participants: Up to 24 Spanish Public Institutions and Companies Contact: Benigno Sánchez, CIEMAT-PSA, benigno.sanchez@ciemat.es; Sixto Malato Rodríguez, CIEMAT-PSA, sixto.malato@psa.es Funding: Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (National R&D Programme): 4,900 k€ Duration: January 1, 2006 – December 31, 2011 Background: Spain is the European country with the highest water deficit and only 5% of the […]
Participants:CNR – Istituto di Ricerca Sulle Acque (I), Aachen Univ. Technol. (D), Tech. Univ. Delft (NL), Swedish Env. Res. Inst. Ltd (S), Cranfield Univ. (UK), Swiss Fed. Inst. Tech. (CH), CIEMAT-PSA (ES), Norw. Inst. Wat. Res. (N), SolSep BV (NL), Bayer MaterialScience AG (D), ITT Wedeco (D), Austep S.r.l. (It), Albaida S.A. (ES), AnoxKaldnes (S), […]
Participants:Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Hirschmann Laborgeräte GmbH, KACO Gerätetechnik GmbH (D) Contact:Christian Jung, DLR, christian.jung@dlr.de Funding:Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU): 779 k€ Duration:April 1, 2005 – January 31, 2010 Background:The DLR’s rocket engine test facilities at Lampoldshausen produce waste waters contaminated mainly with hydrazine. At present the waste waters are treated very […]
Participants:Repsol YPF (E); Acciona Solar (E) (CIEMAT-PSA as subcontracted); Ulma Agrícola (E); Ulma Packaging (E); Acciona Agua (E); Ulma Handling Systems (E); Fundación Cajamar (E); Agrobio (E); Biomiva (E); Grupo AN (E); Ingeteam (E). Contact:Julián Blanco, PSA-CIEMAT, julian.blanco@psa.es Funding:Spanish Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism (CENIT project on the INGENIO programme); 25 M€. Duration:January 1, […]
Participants:WIP (D); Centre for Renewable Energy Sources (CRES) (GR); Univ. Palermo (I); INETI (P); Ao Sol (P); Fraunhofer Gesellschaft ISE (D); Befesa (E); AquaMarine Power (UK); Hellas Energy (GR); European Desalination Society (EDS) (I); CIEMAT-PSA (E); Tinox (D); Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias (ITC) (E); Capital Connect (GR). Contact:Michael Papapetrou, WIP, michael@papape.com Funding:EC funded project, cost […]
Participants:CIEMAT-PSA (E); Univ. La Laguna (E); Instituto de Engenharia Mecanica (P); Ao Sol (P); ETH (CH); Ecosystem Environmental Services (E); INETI (P); École Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Tunis (TUN); Ain Shams University (EGY); LOTUS Solar Technologies (EGY); Alternative Energy Systems (TUN); Suez Canal Univ. (EGY); Univ. Ouargla (ALG); Univ. Seville (E). Contact:Julián Blanco, PSA-CIEMAT, julian.blanco@psa.es; Lourdes […]
Participants: CIEMAT-PSA (E); Univ. La Laguna (E); Acciona Infraestructuras (E); ACUAMED (E); AO SOL (P); Univ. Stuttgart (DE); Tinep (MEX); National Autonomous Univ. Mexico (MEX); Royal Institute of Technology (S); Scarab AB (S); Iberinsa (E). Contact: Julián Blanco, PSA-CIEMAT, julian.blanco@psa.es Funding: EC funded project, cost shared: 1,385 k€ Duration: October 1, 2006 – September 30, […]
Participants: 20 Spanish Companies and 18 subcontracted Spanish Research Institutions. Contact: Julián Blanco, PSA-CIEMAT, julian.blanco@psa.es Funding: Spanish Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism (CENIT project on the INGENIO programme); 24 M€. Duration: January 1, 2008 – December 31, 2010 Background: Despite the importance of R&D in cost reduction of solar thermal technologies, the number of […]
Participants: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) (D), Ben Gurion Univ. of the Negev (BGU) (IL), National Energy Research Center (NERC) (JOR), Univ. Bremen (UB) (D) Contact: Ralf Olwig, DLR, ralf.olwig@dlr.de Funding: German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety: 429k€ Duration: May 1, 2007 – April 31, 2010 Background: […]
The objectives of this Subtask are: To provide a comprehensive description of the state-of-the-art and potential applications of solar water detoxification and disinfection systems. This includes evaluating completed research programs and projects and ongoing developments in this field, as well as their economics; To publicize the knowledge among main stakeholders: solar manufacturers, process engineers, related […]
Concentrating Solar Power for the Mediterranean Region (2005-04-16) by: German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Technical Thermodynamics Section Systems Analysis and Technology Assessment http://www.dlr.de/tt/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-2885/4422_read-6575/
General enquires Website and social media enquires E-mail: solarpaces@solarpaces.org E-mail: webmaster@solarpaces.org Phone: +34 950 857 071 Information Website: www.solarpaces.org Address Apartado 39 04200 Tabernas, Almería (Spain)
High and Low Concentrator Systems for Solar Energy Applications 2014 SPIE Optics + Photonics, Solar Energy + Technology August 17-21, 2014, San Diego, California
DOE SunShot CSP Symposium ASME 2014 8th International Conference on Energy Sustainability June 30–July 2, 2014, Boston, Massachusetts Click here for more information
SolarPACES Annual Report 2011 Click here to download the PDF Version (8MB) of the SolarPACES Annual Report 2011 SolarPACES Annual Report 2010 Click here to download the PDF Version (15MB) of the SolarPACES Annual Report 2010 SolarPACES Annual Report 2009 Click here to download the PDF Version (11MB) of the SolarPACES Annual Report […]
Post conference information (Las Vegas, March 2008)
Overview important dates for the upcoming conference SolarPACES 2010 For more info: www.solarpaces2010.org Where: Perpignan, France When: 21. – 24. September, 2010 Venue: Perpignan Congress Palace Important Dates: Abstract due 20.04.2010 Acceptance notification 15.06.2010 Early bird registration deadline 30.06.2010 Full papers due 15.08.2010 Visit the 1 Megawatt Solar Furnace at Odeillo (Promes-CNRS)!
Overview Data SolarPACES 2011 Views of Granada (Albaycin, Alhambra interior and exterior) Where: Granada, Spain When: 20. – 23. September, 2011 Venue: Granada Congress Centre Important Dates: Abstract due 14 March, 2011 Acceptance notification 16 May, 2011 Early bird registration deadline 27 May, 2011 Full papers due 31 July, 2011 Conference website: www.solarpaces2011.org […]
Marrakech Impressions Overview Data SolarPACES 2012 Where:Marrakech, Morocco When:11. – 14. September, 2012 Venue:Mansour Eddhabi Congress Palace Important Dates: Abstract due 10 April, 2012 (extended!) Acceptance notification 01 June, 2012 Early bird registration deadline 16 July, 2012 Full papers due 31 August, 2012 Conference website: www.solarpaces2012.org Mansour Eddhabi Congress Palace
Overview Data SolarPACES 2013 19th SolarPACES Conference, 17. – 20. September 2013, Las Vegas, USA Where:Las Vegas, Nevada, USA When:17. – 20. September, 2013 Venue:South Point Hotel Important Dates: Abstract due 22 March, 2013 Acceptance notification 22 April, 2013 Early bird registration deadline Undetermined Full papers due 28 June, 2013 Conference website: […]
Project Logo (Later) Logos of Sponsors guiSmo Guidelines CSP Performance Modeling Project Description Administration FAQ Sponsoring Wiki System (members area) Latest news WP 1 WP 2 WP 3 WP 4 WP 5 WP 6 WP 7 WP 8 WP 9 WP 10 The International working Group will develop, document andpublish guidelines for […]
Applicants for the SolarPACES 2015 Technology Innovation Award are now invited to submit their applications! Criteria: Technological Innovations relevant to a more rapid deployment of CSP technology through: performance/cost ratio increase improved manufacturing technology better component lifetime improved environmental profile
Annual Technical Reports SolarPACES Annual Technical Reports Documents on CSP Technology and R&D Strategy Papers IRENA – Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2014 Click here to download the PDF Version (18 MB) KIC InnoEnergy – Future Renewable Energy Costs: Solar Thermal Electricity Click here to download the PDF Version (3.60 MB) IEA Technology […]
NamPower has issued a Tender for the “Amendment of an ESEIA from Coal-fired Technology to Concentrated Solar Power Technology for Power Generation at Arandis”. Please visit the NamPower website http://www.nampower.com.na to download the Tender Documents. More information can be also found here Should you be interested in participating in the Tender, a Tender Clarification Meeting is scheduled for10h00 on the 10th of November 2015 at Arandis Town […]
Power from the sun
How CSP Works: Tower, Trough, Fresnel or Dish
Solar Can Make Carbon Neutral Aircraft Fuel from CO2 + H2O
Q & A: DLR’s Christian Sattler on the Role of Solar Thermochemistry in Green Hydrogen Production
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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