BRINGING THE COST OF BIG SUN DOWN

New Initiatives to Reduce the Cost of CSP

Andrew Williams, October 11, 2013 (CSP Today)

"Recent initiatives in Canada and Spain have broken new ground in the quest to reduce the cost of CSP systems...A U.S. government granting organization…[concluded] Canadian company SHEC Energy’s new Ultra Lite CSP solar technology…[demonstrates] a materials cost reduction of 89% over its previous generation technology…[T]he drastic cost reduction in the company's proprietary 'parabolic dish' and SHECTHERM thermal energy storage technology was motivated by a desire to compete against high levels of Chinese government subsidies and be competitive with 'cheap' fossil fuels. The savings came about chiefly as a result of a new design that minimises complexity and materials, coupled with new production technologies…[A Spanish] research team…has been working on an 'ambitious' framework devoted to developing 'accurate engineering tools' for the thermo-economic design and optimisation of solar power plants…[T]he numerical modelling of molten salt tanks can be a 'powerful tool' for reducing the cost of thermal energy storage…” click here for more

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