Technology Status - NET Nowak Energie & Technologie AG

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If CSP plants are hybridised with a conventional fossil plant, emissions will be
released from the non-solar portion of the plant.
Prospects for Concentrating Solar Power
Parabolic trough plants are the most mature CSP technology available today
and are most likely to be used in the near term. Power towers, with their
possibility of thermal storage, offer the promise of dispatchable, solar-only
plants with high annual capacity in the medium to long term. Dish engines
are smaller and more modular, presenting the opportunities for a wide array
of energy services in sunny areas.
● Cost Reduction Opportunities
Early trough plants produced power for about USD 0.25/kWh in niche
markets. As continuing R&D improved plant performance and lowered O&M
costs, and as economies of scale for larger plants were achieved, power costs
from the most recent plants dropped to about USD 0.12/kWh, the lowestcost
solar power in the world. While the costs of new plants built with
advanced technologies may initially be slightly higher than the recent trough
plants, they may drop with the construction and successful operation of the
first few advanced plants, demonstrating a learning curve similar or even
more pronounced than that seen at the SEGS plants. This could result in
costs of about USD 0.10/kWh within five years. The industry’s trough
technology roadmap lays out a detailed strategy to combine technology
advances in receivers, reflectors and structures, thermal storage and plant
optimisation to reduce costs to less than USD 0.05/kWh in 15 to 20 years. If
this occurs, CSP in areas with high insolation could be reasonably
competitive with conventional resources in those markets by 2020.
Figure 33 shows past and predicted capital and electricity costs for each CSP
technology. The relationship between capital cost and electricity cost
depends on many factors, in particular the hours of system operation, debt
and depreciation time. For that reason, dish systems will have a higher
electricity cost than power tower systems even if the future capital cost for
both systems is predicted to be very close.
Cost reduction typically comes from four areas:
● R&D: Performance improvements through R&D reduce the cost of
enhanced and optimised components and subsystems. Efforts are
focusing mainly on reflectors and receivers, thermal-storage capability,
heat transfer fluid (HTF), hybridisation and the power cycle.
CONCENTRATING SOLAR POWER X4