Study Finds Permit-friendly CSP Sites in California Wastelands

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 […]

Abengoa’s Xina Completes First Three Months in South Africa

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 […]

New Solar Thermal Energy Storage Idea Wins 2017 PowerUp! Competition

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 […]

World’s Largest Solar Reactor Will Split H2O into Hydrogen

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 […]

DOE Solar Desalination Concept Funding Deadline December 4

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 […]

DLR Researchers Commission High Temperature Receiver with Ceramic Particle Storage

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 […]

Namibia’s Outstanding CSP Potential Could “Light up Southern Africa”

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 […]

Upcoming ATA Webinar: Solar for commercial and industrial (C&I) heat

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).  […]

Glasspoint starts up 1 GW Solar Thermal EOR on Time and on Budget

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 […]

Xina Solar One CSP plant completes first month of operation

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 […]

38 Bids From 24 Energy Firms in Chile’s Energy Auctions

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 […]

Will Molten Salt Outdo Batteries for Grid-Tied Storage?

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 Fractal CSP Receivers Absorb Sunlight Better

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 […]

Ghana to Tap its Abundant Solar Thermal Energy Potential

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 […]

New Chance for US CSP? California Outlaws Gas-Fired Peaker Plants

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 […]

Solar Thermal Molten Salt Storage Among Bids into Queensland Storage Tender

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 […]

How we Talk About Climate Change Matters

  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 someone they know talking about the climate crisis at least once a month. Some […]

How ACWA Bid Record Low Cost CSP in Dubai

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 CSP Broke Price Records in 2017

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 […]

China’s Shouhang and CNLNPC to Invest $2.3 Billion (USD) in CSP

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 […]

SunShot Focuses $62 Million on CSP Cost Reduction

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 […]

SunShot to Fund Solar Thermal Desalination Research

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 […]

SolarPACES Lifetime Award Winner Arnold Goldman has passed away

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. 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. Goldman pioneered the […]

Spain loses international arbitration over cuts to renewable subsidies

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 […]

REN21 UNECE Renewable Energy Status Report 2017

  Investment in renewable energy still lacking in 17 countries in South and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia The 17 UNECE countries in South and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia represented only 0.2% or USD 0.4 billion of global renewable energy investment in 2015. despite comprising over 300 million inhabitants and […]

SFERA II: Call for FREE Access to Research Infrastructure

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 […]

China released Feed-in Tariff for CSP Demonstration Projects

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 […]

China announces the first group of CSP demonstration projects

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 […]

Nampower issues tender and procurement for CSP

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 Stellio Consortium awarded with the 2015 Technology Innovation Award

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

Solar thermal power technology R&D and system demonstration in China

Dahan solar tower power demo plant Participants: Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xi’an Jiaotong University; Sun Yat-Sen University; Dongguan University of Technology; Hohai University; China […]

Solar thermal power technology R&D and system demonstration in China (2)

Participants: Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xi’an Jiaotong University; Sun Yat-Sen University; Dongguan University of Technology; Hohai University; China Huadian Engineering Co., Ltd; Himin Solar […]