CSH Could Decarbonize Industrial Heat

Parabolic trough collector CSH system in a dairy processing plant in Mexico IMAGE@IRENA Concentrating Solar Heat (CSH) could decarbonize industrial heat globally Citing a study by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), World Bank energy consultant Elena Cuadros said CSH holds the promise to replace fossil fuels supplying half the world’s industrial heat requirement for …

Abengoa beats Concentrated Solar Power peak hour targets in new plant build record

In record time, Abengoa met granular performance targets at Xina Solar One that maximize evening output, highlighting the advancements made in Concentrated Solar Power construction and operations. CSP developers are using construction and operations learnings to optimize ramp-up periods. (Image credit: Abengoa) Last month, Abengoa passed early-phase generation tests at its 100 MW Xina Solar …

Morocco Lights the Way to More Solar Power Production

More than a third of Morocco’s electricity production capacity comes from renewable sources: Hydro, wind energy, and solar. But after counting imports, Morocco uses far more fossil fuels than renewables. If you drive east of Marrakech for several hours on the N9 highway, ascending into the High Atlas Mountains and then descending into the Sahara …

AfDB ‘s Solar Project Aims at Making Africa a Renewable Power House

When UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the International Solar Alliance last October, he applauded the goal of mobilizing about $1 trillion dollars towards the deployment of some 1,000 gigawatts of solar energy by 2030. “It is clear,” he said, “that we are witnessing a global renewable energy revolution.” That revolution is also taking place under …

Concentrated Solar Power, renewable and storage, by Luis Crespo (Protermosolar)

Who has said that renewables will always need the support of fossil or nuclear technologies to provide the supply? It is true that the cheapest and most widespread technologies in Spain, such as wind energy and photovoltaic, do not have storage in centralized facilities (wind farms and photovoltaic plants) and that add some hour of …

Novel Concentrated Solar Power Design Combines the Solar Receiver with Thermal Energy Storage

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 is in molten salts in tanks on the …

Cloud camera system WobaS provides concentrated solar power plants with reliable radiation nowcasts

The cloud camera system WobaS predicts the solar radiation in the next fifteen minutes. The system has been developed by the DLR Institute of Solar Research together with CSP Services GmbH and TSK Flagsol Engineering GmbH. It provides temporally and spatially highly resolved information on the solar irradiance based on several cloud cameras. The software …

Azelio to Partner With Masdar and Khalifa University to Install Concentrated Solar Power Pilot Project at Masdar City

Swedish solar energy company Azelio has partnered with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (‘Masdar’) and Khalifa University of Science and Technology to run a pilot project evaluating new technology in power storage. An agreement to formalize the partnership was signed today by Jonas Eklind, Chief Executive Officer, Azelio, Abdulla Balalaa, Director, Real Estate Development and …

Capex of modular Concentrated Solar Power plants could halve if 1 GW deployed

Soon to complete its first full-scale module in Morocco, Concentrated Solar Power developer 247Solar predicts series build gains could reduce capex to $3,000/kWe and sees advantages for industrial energy supply. Modular CSP arrays bring economies of series and siting benefits. (Image credit: 247Solar. Rendered image) Last month, 247Solar announced it will build its first fully-operational …

Shanghai Electric Exhibits Concentrated Solar Power Breakthrough

Shanghai Electric Group, a leading multinational power generation and electrical equipment manufacturing conglomerate, delivered a new wave of smart, connected and green integrated solutions and technological breakthroughs to the 24th World Energy Congress (WEC) held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Shanghai Electric Exhibits Breakthrough Smart Energy Technologies at 24th World Energy Congress Recognised as …