Hybrid Concentrated Solar Power – PV offers lowest cost for Chile

A hybrid Concentrated Solar Power-PV plant with 13 hours of storage is the lowest cost power generation option for low-carbon baseload power in Chile, researchers at the Fraunhofer Chile Research Foundation said in a new report. The researchers studied four hybrid plant concepts and found that a combined CSP solar tower and PV plant with …

SolarPACES Conference, Heliogen Introduces Solar Heat at 1 cent/kWh

Well before Bill Gross started Idealab (which has launched 150 startups and counting) to “look for big problems in the world, invent technological solutions, then build companies to fix them” he was doodling designs for the solar thermal mirrors that reflect concentrated sunlight onto a solar receiver, instead of attending to his high school English …

The cost of Concentrated Solar Power fell by 47% between 2010 and 2019

The weighted average LCOE of Concentrated Solar Power plants fell by 47% between 2010 and 2019, from USD 0.346/kWh to USD 0.182/kWh, excluding two much delayed projects that are not representative of today’s optimised technology configuration that were commissioned in 2019. The global weighted-average total installed costs of Concentrating Solar Power plants commissioned in 2019 …

Global Concentrated Solar Power costs dive as learnings kick in

Average CSP prices to fall by a half as Chile, Dubai projects near completion. The global average cost of new CSP projects is set to plummet in 2020 and 2021, based on auction and power purchase agreement (PPA) data, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said in its latest annual Renewable Power Generation Cost report. …

Irena: Concentrated Solar Power costs have fallen by 47%

Renewable electricity costs have fallen sharply over the past decade, driven by improving technologies, economies of scale, increasingly competitive supply chains and growing developer experience. Since 2010, utility-scale solar PV power has shown the sharpest cost decline at 82%, followed by concentrating solar power (CSP) at 47%, onshore wind at 39% and offshore wind at …

IIT-M researchers develop low cost Solar Parabolic Trough Collector for use in desalination, space heating, space cooling

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) have developed a low cost Solar ‘Parabolic Trough Collector’ (PTC) system for concentrating solar energy with industrial applications in areas such as desalination, space heating and space cooling, among others. This indigenously designed and developed system was lightweight with high energy efficiency under Indian various climatic and …

Chile could build Concentrated Solar Power at $76/MWh

CSP plants could be built at a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of $76/MWh near the city of Copiapo in northern Chile, according to a report by researchers at Santiago’s Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria and the Fraunhofer Chile Research Foundation. The researchers estimated CSP production, capital costs, operational costs and financial parameters at different …

Concentrated solar power could beat lower price PV with new market rules

Concentrated solar power can deliver greater grid stability than photovoltaics, but needs better recognition of its value to be competitive. Concentrated solar power’s failure to gain momentum in U.S. markets is a signal that traditional resource valuations may be slowing the energy transition, a February CSP conference made clear. CSP, which converts the sun’s heat …

Self-aligning heliostats arrive to slice Concentrated Solar Power costs

Soon to hit the market, auto-calibrating heliostat systems will cut capex, accelerate construction times and expand siting potential, suppliers told New Energy Update. As CSP developers drive for lower costs, heliostat performance has become a key area of research. Heliostats can represent half of the capital costs of a Concentrated Solar Power plant and misalignment …