BIG SOLAR LOOKS AHEAD

AREVA Solar puts its money on the solar booster market
Rikki Stancich, 3 September 2010 (CSP Today)

"…French nuclear energy company, Areva [recently acquired]…Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) technology developer, Ausra, in a move it described as ‘its first step to becoming a global solar energy business’…Prior to the acquisition, Ausra had dramatically changed its tactics – and its name - from technology provider and developer, to pure play OEM – a move lauded by investors and analysts alike…Following the successful launch of a 1MW pilot [in Australia] in 2004…Ausra received a cash injection from Silicon Valley venture capitalists of around $US40 million…Since then, Ausra’s 5MW Kimberlina demonstration plant in [California] and its 9 MWt, Liddell coal-fired/solar power augmentation facility [in Australia] have come online…Areva Solar is now on track to break ground on its 23MW Kogan creek solar booster project [in Australia later this year, and has plans for several other major projects…"

[Dr. Robert (Bob) Fishman, CEO, Areva Solar:] "We see a lot of attractive near-term opportunities in the power augmentation or “booster” market. Areva can install a solar field at existing natural gas-fired or coal-fired power plants to increase peak plant output without added emissions—or we can reduce emissions while maintaining the same output of the plant…In comparing all CSP and PV solar technology options, Areva Solar’s booster facilities are by far the most cost-effective solar offering in the market…[W]e are [also] pursuing several utility-scale projects…Another attractive near-term market is for industrial process steam. Industries that require large amounts of steam (such as enhanced oil recovery, food processing or petrochemical refining) can utilize direct solar steam or hot water…Whereas feed-in tariffs and renewable portfolio standards drive the power market for CSP, the driver for industrial steam applications will either be a carbon market or high fuel prices…"

click to enlarge

[Dr. Robert (Bob) Fishman, CEO, Areva Solar:] "We believe these [CSP retrofit] projects by far are the best point of entry for our technology. Financially, solar steam augmentation is not only viable, but financially and environmentally attractive…Boosters should result in a Levelized Cost of Electricity that is 30 percent lower than standalone solar power plants, and [30-50 megawatt projects] can be built in a year or less. They are also appealing because they can be built on land already owned and controlled by the customer…Utilities reduce fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions by adding solar steam generation…Additionally, using water as our working fluid for a direct steam offering with a closed loop system and dry cooling makes our technology more appealing for the arid locations that tend to be best suited for CSP technology. We also offer the highest land density design…"

[Dr. Robert (Bob) Fishman, CEO, Areva Solar:] "In the past 18 months we have improved our solar steam offering from medium pressure, saturated steam to high-pressure, superheated steam. This is a major technological advancement, and Areva is the only CLFR technology able to generate sustained, superheated steam…[W]e’ve lengthened our solar steam generators to more maximize our land efficiency and lower costs…We are currently short-listed for Australia’s $1.5 billion Solar Flagships Program. We are part of an energy consortium…seeking to develop, build and operate a standalone, 250MWe solar thermal power plant [in Australia]…[and we] have a strong pipeline of both standalone power and booster opportunities in Morocco, India, South Africa and the Middle East."

Ausra's system (click to enlarge)

[Dr. Robert (Bob) Fishman, CEO, Areva Solar:] "For large-scale generation, there is really no economically viable option for firming PV power and thermal hybrids cost one-third the price of a standalone backup peaker plant…[W]e’ve looked extensively at storage and believe that hybridization currently offers far more flexibility and cost-effectiveness…Molten salt and oil storage are…cost-prohibitive…Solar/natural-gas hybrid power plants offer a more affordable and reliable solution…even when compared to pumped storage hydro…"

[Dr. Robert (Bob) Fishman, CEO, Areva Solar:] "We are always looking into technologies that will assist us in being more cost-effective…Globally, one major obstacle to CSP development is that the project finance market has not fully rebounded…[In] the U.S., we’re still lacking comprehensive federal energy and carbon policies…[M]any other countries have demonstrated more environmental leadership by implementing or are in the process of implementing favorable feed-in tariffs and government policies…"