China's solar increased by 33.7 % in the first quarter, while coal power increased at 1.8%. Solar now has a cumulative 430 GW online, almost half of China's cumulative total of coal power plants; 1,130 GW. The latest quarterly report by the China Electricity Council...
duck curve
Spain now needs CSP for grid stability – study
Despite a renewable capacity of 2.6 times peak demand, Spain's intermittent renewables do not provide grid needs for operating reserves and frequency stability, so they have not displaced conventional fossil technologies Source: EVWind Each MW of solar thermal power...
The Economics of Running CSP as a Capacity Resource in the 100% Renewable Future
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...
New DLR Study Answers All Your Questions About CSP & Solar Thermal
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...
Aalborg CSP to Retrofit Coal Plants into Thermal Energy Storage
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...
California Looks for Long-Duration Renewable Energy Storage Contracts for 2026
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...
Fred Morse: Go from Lowest Cost to Best Fit for a 100% Carbon Free Grid
CSP+TES match a 100% clean grid best fit needs: flexibility, reliability, dispatchability, durability but utilities don’t know how to procure them
Developers and Utilities Mull Solar Storage for a 100% Clean Energy Southwest
As electricity grids include more intermittent renewables to meet 100% clean energy goals – utilities look beyond batteries to CSP+TES
Sener Offers to Expand its CSP as South Africa’s Coal Plant Blackouts Continue
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...
Evening Peak Solar CSP Projected to Undercut Gas in Chile’s Open Auctions
Unlike in other countries, Chile’s open auctions have no subsidies or technology restrictions, pitting CSP against combined cycle gas turbine power plants
How solar thermal energy storage works with concentrated solar
If you could capture the sun, this gigantic thermal energy storage tank is what that looks like
How Solar Peaker Plants Could Replace Gas Peakers
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).
Sandia Labs R&D Helped SolarReserve hit 6 Cents CSP
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...
How Port Augusta Got the World’s Cheapest Solar Thermal Power
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...
SolarReserve Breaks CSP Price Record with 6 Cent Contract
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) just reached the US Department of Energy 2020 SunShot goal of 6 cents for dispatchable solar
What is the Difference Between the Two Kinds of Solar: CSP and PV?
PV enables energy mass production PV (Photovoltaic) solar works in a completely different way from CSP All electricity is basically just electrons moving down a wire. Michael Faraday discovered in 1831 that moving an electrically charged wire within a magnetic field...
CSP to be Essential by 2050 …for Germany?
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.
How Concentrated Solar Power Works
All concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies use a mirror configuration to concentrate the sun’s light energy onto a receiver and convert it into heat. The heat can then be used to create steam to drive a turbine to produce electrical power or used as industrial...
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