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An MIT spin-off, Electrified Thermal Solutions deploys electricicity-heated hot bricks to deliver heated gases at industry-standard flame temperatures up to 2000°C Patents for thermal energy storage have soared over the last eight years, according to the patent filing source patsnap. We’ve covered stand-alone thermal energy storage using solid materials like sand, bricks, concrete, slag and …
GE solar receiver tested at Sandia IMAGE © GE Researchers at GE Aerospace Research and Sandia National Laboratory have successfully fabricated and tested a 3D-printed silicon carbide (SiC) volumetric solar air receiver, achieving a temperature of 1390°C on-sun. The goal of the three-year program, now completed, was a feasibility demonstration of materials, design, fabrication, and …
Continue reading “US researchers test a solar receiver at close to 1400°C”
Stellio heliostats at Talatan New Energy Park in Qinghai IMAGE © DBC Like most countries, China favors domestic suppliers for its renewable energy projects. As a result, virtually all companies supplying components for the country’s complex concentrated solar power plants are Chinese. However, it is not impossible for a Western company to establish itself as …
Continue reading “How a German firm’s heliostats shine in China”
Kevin Tu on CSP in China energy planning in the 15th Five-Year Plan China has really been building out CSP at a rapid pace in the last few years, overtaking what the US ever built commercially through 2015 (1.5 GW), and now China is second only to what Spain built in the last decade, 2.3 …
Continue reading “Did China actually commit to 15 GW of CSP in 5 years?”
An interview with Lauri Myllyvirta, co-founder and lead analyst of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, an independent research organization headquartered in Finland with staff across Europe and Asia, about China’s 15th Five-Year Plan. SK: I was surprised that in this 15th Five-Year Plan, concentrated solar thermal was sort of singled out, …
Continue reading “Concentrated solar thermal in China’s 15th Five-Year Plan”
Steel production accounts for roughly 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and nearly 70% of that comes from coal-fired blast furnaces; the dominant way the world has made iron for centuries. The Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) could decarbonize steelmaking because it can be powered by renewable electricity. It requires very pure sponge iron. Porous sponge …
Continue reading “Concentrated solar heat and hydrogen to decarbonize iron ore processing”
With China’s massive state-owned enterprises (SOE) like China General Nuclear, PowerChina and Three Gorges (famous for the 22MW dam) completing 26 full-scale concentrated solar power (CSP) projects in the last few years, and with even more than that under construction, the country is the new global leader in CSP deployment. I have many questions, like …
Continue reading “Questions about China’s recent surge in CSP? Here are some answers”
Concentrated solar power researchers have long known that porous ceramic “volumetric” receivers can deliver very high temperatures. What a new study from Cranfield University shows is that the internal shape of the cavity impacts heat retention. After testing different polygonal internal geometries, they found that the nine‑sided design – the nonagon – holds onto more …
Continue reading “The optimal internal receiver geometry for high temperature solar fuels”
A novel BALIO desalination method is designed to enable green steel from Western Australia’s Pilbara region iron ores At Perth’s Curtin University in Western Australia, Lina Hockaday is leading a team researching the use of waste brine to upgrade iron ore in a different way, so it can be used to make green steel. Right …
Continue reading “Could waste brine from desalination plants help make steel greener?”
Shouhang HiTech 100 MW CSP Tower at Tangshan Haitai During a trial run in April, 2026, one of the most recent new CSP projects in China, the 100MW tower CSP project at Tangshan Haitai’s 1 GW Qiquanhu PV Industrial Park, set an operation record. It ran continuously and safely around the clock for 96 hours …
Continue reading “Tower CSP at Tangshan Haitai’s massive solar park runs a record 96 hours straight”