SOLAR POWER PLANTS’ OBSTACLES

What's Holding Back Concentrating Solar Power Projects In The U.S.?
11 April 2011 (Solar Industry)

"The concentrating solar power (CSP) industry in North America has experienced setbacks in recent months, including a number of large CSP projects facing lawsuits or being replaced by solar photovoltaic projects.

"…Business Strategy: Make-It-or-Break-It Time for Concentrating Solar Power…evaluates the challenges faced by the industry and explains why - according to the company - it is too early to give up on CSP.

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"Large CSP plants have been facing challenges due to the difficulty of siting them without disturbing environmentally or culturally sensitive lands, and the difficulty of financing projects that incorporate unproven technologies…CSP plants [also] face serious competition from PV, as PV plants continue to drop in price, are relatively quick to permit and build, and investors are comfortable financing them."

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"According to the report…CSP technology holds three advantages over PV…[1] It delivers higher quality power…[2] it experiences fewer intermittency issues (and can go so far as to provide baseload power if storage is incorporated), and…[3] it has the potential to use integrated storage to align its output with peak demand…

"Although CSP projects enable high efficiencies and low costs, smaller projects are easier to site, permit and finance. In a separate report, IDC Energy Insights analyzes an innovative micro CSP project that uses technology optimized for projects in the 2 MW to 50 MW range. The approach, which incorporates two hours of thermal energy storage, attempts to bring the benefits of CSP to smaller, more manageable, and more financeable locations…"