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).
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:
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
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.
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 […]
