Novel CSP Design Combines the Solar Receiver with Thermal Energy Storage

Integrated Solar Receiver-Thermal Storage Configuration IMAGE@Yang et al Among the many international researchers inventing improvements in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), a Chinese-Finnish team has designed an interesting innovation. They propose integrating energy storage in rocks and fan-recirculated hot air into the solar receiver itself. Normally in CSP the thermal energy storage of the solar heat …

Add Hydrogen Combustion to a Solar Reactor for Carbon-Free Mining and Mineral Processing

IMAGE@ A. Chinnici, University of Adelaide, Centre for Energy technology Iron, nickel, alumina and copper mining processes are among the industrial processes that require heat at between 700°C and 1000°C. The advanced concentrated solar thermal (CST) reactors being developed by researchers globally can attain temperatures this high (and higher, up to 1500°C). But CEOs in …

Could China’s Global Grid Idea Help Grow CSP?

IMAGE @GEIDCO China has an ambitious proposal for a global HVDC grid to transfer renewable energy throughout the world. Interconnected regional electricity networks would be connected to a backbone of HVDC lines that would become a globe-spanning super grid by 2050. Advancing the idea is China’s Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDO). The concept …

A Solar Process Like Gas Reforming Makes Green Hydrogen Cheaper

A solar process that is similar to gas reforming for producing hydrogen from wastewater IMAGE @Adrian Dawson, CSIRO A preliminary study of the average cost of a novel process for producing solar hydrogen in several locations in Australia finds it could come close to the US DOE renewable hydrogen target of $3 per kilogram. The …

Designing Solar Furnaces to Make Biochars without Air Pollution

Solar Pyrolysis Of Agave And Tomato Pruning Wastes: Insights Of The effect Of Pyrolysis Operation Parameters On The Physicochemical Properties Of Biochar   IMAGE@Heidi Villafán-Vidales Charcoal might seem like a very low tech product, but lithium batteries, water filtration and super-capacitors are among its high tech end uses, and the requirements for these different purposes are …

Start-Up VC Invests in Beam-Down Concentrator for Solar Fuel

Model of the the Wahaj Solar pre-commercial pilot that will measure 10m across to provide heat around 1,000°C      IMAGE @Wahaj Solar “Our “back of the envelop” communication with researchers is that the US $3 per gallon of gasoline equivalent (GGE) per kilogram of hydrogen could be obtainable,” said Al Maaitah, whose start-up VC …

Morocco Breaks New Record with 800 MW Midelt 1 CSP-PV at 7 Cents

CSP auction price trends IMAGE @IRENA Morocco’s 800 MW CSP-PV Noor Midelt breaks last year’s auction price record of 7.3 cents set by DEWA in the UAE, with winning bid at USD 7 cents/kWh The Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN) has announced that the consortium of EDF Renewables, Masdar, and Green of Africa – …

VC-Funded Thermal “Battery” is Based on CSP Molten Salt Energy Storage

Standalone thermal storage: “Incredibly cheap grid-scale storage with a very long calendar life” Breakthrough Energy Ventures funds Malta thermal energy storage battery for power and district heating IMAGE @BEV The new Venture Capital (VC) firm Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) only invests in technologies they vet as both “scientifically feasible at scale” and with the potential …

Top Steelmaker Tests Thermal Energy Storage in Slag Byproduct to Cut CO2

Thermal energy stored in steel slag could replace fossil fuels used for heat in steel production Slag is the steel industry’s biggest waste byproduct. It could find a use: to cut the carbon emissions from steel production Starting this year, thermal energy researchers in Spain’s Basque Country will test the use of slag as thermal …