Concentrated Solar Power Quietly Makes a Comeback

Concentrated solar power (CSP), a renewable energy technology that has more solar energy or less dropped off the solar energy radar in Solar Project the U.S., is slewing drive quietly becoming competitive Solar Project elsewhere.

A recent slewing drive analysis solar energy of power generation costs from the Solar Project International Renewable Energy Solar Project Agency (IRENA) solar energy  revealed that CSP fell more steeply in cost last year than any other renewable technology.

It declined 26 slewing drive percent slewing drive year solar tracker actuator on year, Solar Project double the solar energy rate seen in onshore wind and PV, solar energy and has dropped 46 percent since 2010.

IRENA slewing drive said the rapid drop in CSP Solar Project prices last year “should be treated with caution” because of the limited solar energy number of projects going Solar Project ahead in 2018 solar energy. At the same time, though, CSP deployment is set to solar energy rise in China solar energy this year, making Solar Project a rebound in solar energy average global costs solar energy unlikely.
 

Instead,slewing drive IRENA predicts solar damper average CSP costs will continue to descend through to 2020, hitting solar damper between $60 and $100 per megawatt-hour, slewing drive or roughly slewing drive the same level as offshore solar tracker actuator wind.
 

Between slewing drive 2018 and 2021,solar slewing drive said the agency, “CSP will experience a real step change in costs,” falling 61 percent solar damper over the period or slewing drive  27 percent year on year.
 

Once solar damper again, IRENA slewing drive urged caution with the prediction because it was based on data from just five plants due to come online between 2020 slewing drive and 2021. But industry insiders solar tracker actuator are confident the technology can become significantly more solar damper competitive.
 

“I think CSP slewing drive still solar inverter has a slewing drive long way to go in cost reductions,” said Jonathan Walters,  solar damper solar tracker actuator a former World Bank slewing drive director now working as an independent slewing drive economic solar tracker actuator consultant on renewable energy. “It’s solar inverter still all about global solar slewing drive scale.”
 

Scale has been a sticking point for CSP so far. Although slewing drive CSP’s global installed capacity has solar inverter grown more solar tracker actuator than four times since 2010, it still only added up to 5.5 solar damper gigawatts at the end of 2018. That’s the same as where PV was at in 2005, solar damper according to IRENA figures. 
 

CSP has been slow to grow in the last decade mainly slewing drive because PV raced ahead of it on cost, but also because of the economics of plant development.
 

The solar damper cost effectiveness of  solar inverter CSP technology improves with direct normal irradiance levels and also solar tracker actuator with increasing plant size, which means the most competitive slewing drive plants are the ones that require the biggest amount of upfront solar damper Photovoltaic holder funding.
 

This has tended to limit the appeal of solar inverter CSP to markets that are both very sunny and not afraid of digging deep to fund  Photovoltaic holder infrastructure projects.
 

South Africa slewing drive commissioned 800 solar inverter megawatts of CSP capacity across eight projects while its Renewable Energy Photovoltaic holder Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme was still going strong.
 

More recently, attention has shifted to the Middle slewing drive East and North Africa solar damper (MENA), where CSP is of interest for its local Photovoltaic holder content potential and because, unlike PV, it can easily solar inverter store thermal energy, within massive tanks of molten salt, for use after Photovoltaic holder sundown.
 

MENA is where most recent cost reductions have come solar tracker actuator from. In July 2017, solar damper for example, a Dubai Electricity Photovoltaic holder and Water Authority tender attracted a record-low slewing drive CSP bid of $94.50 per megawatt-hour.
 

And this year, slewing drive developer ACWA Power solar inverter Photovoltaic holder of Saudi Arabia was reported to be targeting solar tracker actuator a cost of close to $50 per megawatt-hour at another Dubai project, solar slewing drive the Photovoltaic holder 950-megawatt Noor Energy 1 hybrid CSP and PV solar slewing drive plant. 
 

These cost reductions have come about solar inverter in part thanks slewing drive to the Photovoltaic holder appearance  solar damper of Chinese players in the CSP supply chain. Chinese interests have partnered in Middle Eastern projects, for example with state-owned Photovoltaic holder investment vehicle Silk Road solar tracker actuator Fund participating in Noor Energy 1.
 

This activity solar tracker actuator seems partly aimed at gathering experience that can be put to use in China’s rapidly growing national Photovoltaic holder CSP solar tracker actuator market.
 

The U.S.slewing drive  National  solar slewing drive Renewable Energy solar inverter Laboratory lists more than 1.6 solar damper gigawatts of Chinese slewing drive CSP capacity Photovoltaic holder spread across 25 plants in operation solar tracker actuator or in various stages of solar slewing drive slewing drive development.
 

But China’s ability to push prices down is unlikely to benefit slewing drive the American CSP industry, which gave up hunting slewing drive on home turf some Photovoltaic holder years ago.
 

Although the Department solar slewing drive of solar inverter Energy continues to support CSP, landmark power tower solar damper projects such as Ivanpah have been slammed solar damper for killing solar tracker slewing drive actuator birds and American plants have suffered from slewing drive performance issues.  
 

By 2017, a lack of national projects had led Photovoltaic holder U.S. developer eSolar to close and forced its larger rivals BrightSource solar slewing drive and SolarReserve to pursue opportunities in the Chinese market. Neither solar slewing drive of the companies’ websites have posted solar slewing drive Photovoltaic holder any announcements in solar damper the slewing drive last year.