Concentrated solar power systems grow in the USA

Last year saw a big comeback for concentrating solar power (CSP) system in the United States with the commissioning of the Abengoa Solana plant, part of the BrightSource Energy Ivanpah plant, and other major plants well along in their schedules. If 2013 was a big year for CSP, 2014 promises to be monumental. With about 1 GW of capacity still in the pipeline, CSP is experiencing a true renaissance moment in the United States.

SunShot continues to grow strong as it celebrates its 3rd birthday this week. With its steadfast focus on the ambitious cost target of 6 cents per kilowatt-hour without subsidy, DOE’s investments in the innovations and work of its partners throughout industry, academia, and the national laboratories are paying off significantly. The levelized cost of electricity for CSP is about 8 cents per kilowatt-hour less than what it was in 2010, over the half-way mark in the reductions needed toward the SunShot target. Projects such as that at the University of Arizona (Awardee Spotlight) are demonstrating solutions that meet stretch targets of doubling the optical accuracy of glass reflectors.

While much work remains to be done to reach our SunShot goal, the effort continues to drive down the cost of CSP by funding creative ideas and developments that will improve the components and processes. The recently-announced competitive awards made to Abengoa Solar, GE Global Research Center, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) under the SolarMAT and PREDICTS programs will lead to important physical understanding of degradation mechanisms, analysis and design tools, and lean manufacturing and installation methods for CSP systems. In addition, we will soon launch the exciting projects funded in the ELEMENTS program to develop and demonstrate thermochemical energy storage systems that present opportunities for storing the sun's energy at high densities in the form of chemical bonds for use in utility-scale CSP electricity generation.

The program continues to engage the broader community in the SunShot mission through outreach efforts. The SunShot CSP Symposium Sessions at the ASME 2014 8th International Conference on Energy Sustainability are seeking abstracts for highly disruptive technologies and transformative concepts that could help meet the SunShot cost and performance targets. The organization is also initiating a CSP presence at the SPIE Optics + Photonics 2014 Conference on High and Low Concentrator Systems for Solar Energy Applications. This conference is a unique opportunity for information exchange amongst optical experts in both solar photovoltaic and CSP technologies.

You can also join the SunShot team through the competitive fellowship opportunities. Also, the second SunShot Grand Challenge Summit and Peer Review will be held from May 19-22, 2014 at the Hilton Anaheim, California.

SunShot Initiative