CSP Today

South Africa: Solar investment appeal

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:05:26 +0000

Précis:

The recent increase in South Africa’s power tariffs, together with greater policy and regulatory certainty has made the country a more attractive renewable energy investment prospect than ever.

By Annabel Eaton in Cape Town

Independent Power Producers (IPPs), both in Europe and on the greater African continent, are clamouring to enter the next big CSP market. For its part, South Africa’s government is energetically encouraging external investment into its local renewable energy industry.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

China: Banking on renewable energy storage

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:19:21 +0000

Précis:

China’s State Grid Corporation has built the world’s biggest battery in a bid to manage its ageing grid infrastructure.

By Paul French in Shanghai

China recently announced the launch of its first commercial battery storage station for renewable energies - the world's largest to date.

The project, a joint venture between China's leading battery manufacturer BYD and the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), has completed construction of the utility-scale project, located in Zhangbei, in central China's Hebei Province.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today India 2012

Premium`:

AORA: Hybrid ‘Tulip’ tower system to be switched on in Spain

Rikki Stancich — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:42:43 +0000

Précis:

Zev Rosenzweig, CEO of AORA Solar, walks CSP Today through the advantages of its commercially-ready Tulip tower module, to be launched in Spain next week.

By Rikki Stancich

Tulip, the invention of Israeli concentrated solar power technology developer AORA, is being readied for its official European launch next week next week.

A pilot novel modular tower power hybrid system, designed to run 24 hours a day, was installed in China back in 2006, with the commercial prototype launched in Israel's Arava desert in 2009.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

Rajasthan: bid process draws to close

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:07:20 +0000

Précis:

Rajasthan's bid process for 200MW of solar projects has been extended from January 30th to February 15th. How much closer will this bid round bring the state to its vision of powering India on desert sun?

By T.C. Maholtra in New Delhi

Last month the western Indian state of Rajasthan initiated a bid process for 200 MW of solar power projects. The 200MW capacity at stake is divided equally between concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) and photovoltaic solar energy (PV).

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today India 2012

Premium`:

Spanish banks: poised for CSP investments in US

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:48:12 +0000

Précis:

A strong track record in CSP project finance, coupled with dwindling investment opportunities on the home turf prompts Spanish banks to invest more energy stateside.

By Jason Deign in Barcelona

Last August, the high-tech denizens of San Francisco’s South-of-Market district welcomed a new neighbour from far away. Grupo Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Spain’s second-largest bank, had set up shop in Silicon Valley.

The press announcement marking the event made ample reference to West Coast technology stalwarts (and, presumably, potential BBVA customers) such as Google, Facebook and Apple, trumpeting the fact that the bank was seeking to develop partnerships with IT companies.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today USA 2012

Premium`:

US thermal storage: Boosting CSP price performance

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:38:15 +0000

Précis:

Federal mandates and proven performance on output and price, ensure the next generation of US concentrated solar power plants will be designed with thermal storage.

By Dan McCue, US correspondent

BrightSource Energy’s decision to add solar energy storage to three of its agreements with Southern California Edison (SCE) will not only further the company’s drive to enhance its cost-competitiveness, but will help its utility partner fulfil new state mandates for the use of power from stored sources, industry insiders say.

And at least one analyst believes power towers with storage could actually be a lower cost alternative to PV technology by as early as 2016.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today USA 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

Artist's impression of Brightsource Energy CSP plant with a two-tank molten salt storage system

Grenatec: Switching on a pan-Asian electricity market

Rikki Stancich — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:53:19 +0000

Précis:

Stewart Taggart, founder of the Asia energy research organisation, Grenatec, and co-founder of Desertec, explains why Asia can only benefit from a single electricity market.

By Stewart Taggart

Analysts, such as those cited in last week’s article, Grenatec: Challenges facing the Asian Desertec bring up well-worn points to discount the viability of a pan-Asian electricity market.

The article notes: "Some have raised doubts over getting more than one country on board for energy policy. There are reasons why countries in Asia, or elsewhere for that matter, might not want to exchange energy beyond their borders."

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today India 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

Stewart Taggert defends the Grenatec vision

Torresol’s Valle 1 & 2: Single tank thermal storage deployed

Rikki Stancich — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:29:06 +0000

Précis:

Ignacio Larrea, SENER’s Valle 1 and Valle 2 Project Manager talks to CSP Today about the innovative storage and collector technology deployed at the Valle 1 and Valle 2 plants, commissioned this week in Spain.

Interview by Rikki Stancich

This week, Torresol Energy announced that its Valle 1 and Valle 2 plants - two identical 50 MW parabolic trough plants, located in Cadiz, in the South of Spain, have commenced commissioning.

The plants are equipped with thermal storage, which will allow them to continue to produce power for up to 7.5 hours in the absence of solar radiation. The Valle 2 plant will road test Sener’s single tank storage system, as well as its latest trough collector, the SENERtrough 2.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

Torresol Energy's Valle 2 plant demonstrates innovative storage and collector technologies.

Paving the way for ISCC: Fichtner Solar

Rikki Stancich — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:47:43 +0000

Précis:

CSP Today speaks to Georg Brakmann, Founder and Managing Director of Fichtner Solar, about the CSP engineering consultancy firm's role in bringing ISCC to North Africa and the Middle East.

Interview by Rikki Stancich

Even mushroom clouds have a silver lining, and in Chernobyl’s case, it was the revived interest in solar energy and the consequent transition of talent into the solar sector.

Georg Brakmann is one such example, when following the events at Chernobyl, he cut short a successful career in the nuclear sector and focused instead on promoting the large-scale application of solar energy. His vision in the early 1980’s was to supply Europe with solar energy from the Middle East and North Africa.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

Georg Brakmann, Founder and Managing Director of Fichtner Solar

CSP finance: Alternative funding in the US

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:06:34 +0000

Précis:

Feed-in tariffs and solar renewable energy credits are among the options being pondered to meet the funding challenges CSP projects now face in the US.

By Jason Deign in Barcelona

Can CSP survive in the USA without the Department of Energy’s 1705 loans guarantee programme?

Last year it backed solar projects to the tune of USD$6.8 billion, funding CSP developments such as Ivanpah and Mojave Solar and dwarfing all the other sources of project finance debt combined.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today USA 2012

Premium`:

Grenatec: Challenges facing the Asian Desertec

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:25:38 +0000

Précis:

One of Desertec’s founders has an even more ambitious interconnection plan for Asia. Are its chances any better than those of its North African cousin?

By Jason Deign in Barcelona

Remember Desertec? While the North Africa-Southern Europe grid interconnection and energy exchange concept still seems almost as far from reality as it did a few years ago, one of its founders now hopes for success with an even grander plan, spanning Asia and Australia.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today India 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

Grenatec's vision: By 2050, Asia will have a single electricity market steered by carbon-adjusted pricing

Shams1: No slip ups, contends Masdar

Rikki Stancich — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:20:11 +0000

Précis:

Responding to speculation surrounding Masdar’s Shams1 project since it incurred delays back in 2009, Masdar Power’s head of engineering, Dr Olaf Goebel, speaks exclusively to CSP Today to set the record straight.

Interview by Rikki Stancich

CSP Today: Masdar Power refutes claims in the international press that its Shams1 project was temporarily withdrawn, re-located and re-tendered back in 2009. Now it denies that incorrect estimates of the project site’s DNI were taken. What are the facts, according to Masdar?

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

Shams1 is schedued to come online at the end of the year

Testing times: Is the tide turning for non-glass mirrors?

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:37:12 +0000

Précis:

Have stringent regulations on glass mirror content given alternative reflectors the edge?

By Francesca Boothby

When presenting to financiers and developers, are glass manufacturers still referencing the proven track record of first generation plants such as the Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) in California?

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

Alternative concentrated solar reflectors are on a roll

South Africa: Coming up aces for Abengoa

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:47:38 +0000

Précis:

Abengoa’s plans for multiple plants at its Khi Solar and Kaxu Solar sites are a sign of bigger things to come in South Africa.

By Annabel Eaton in Cape Town

Months of anticipation regarding South Africa’s competitive bidding process culminated with the official announcement of the country’s first 28 renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) preferred bidders in early December at COP 17, the United Nation’s climate summit. These bidders now have until June 2012 to take their projects to financial closure, with construction to begin shortly thereafter.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

DNI: Measuring bang for your buck

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:30:28 +0000

Précis:

Accurate DNI measures can make a big difference to CSP financials. Get your sunshine stats wrong and you could get burnt.

By Jason Deign in Barcelona

What happened at Shams 1 would nowadays probably be classified as a schoolboy error. Last year, the CSP plant’s owner, Masdar, confessed that it had overestimated how much sunlight would reach the parabolic trough field. It had not factored in the amount of dust in the air.

“The Shams original estimate was based on satellite data and was off by more than 10%,” says Marcel Suri, managing director of GeoModel Solar, a solar resource consultancy.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

Solar slip-ups: Shams 1

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:12:10 +0000

Précis:

In new terrain, where dust can weaken solar insolation by as much as 30%, Masdar’s Shams 1 was bound to face some hurdles. CSP Today investigates what went wrong.

By Heba Hashem

The Abu Dhabi-based Shams 1 project is the region’s biggest solar plant under development and when completed next year will be one of the world’s largest. But getting it off the ground was not as straightforward as anticipated.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

Rioglass flexes to new mirror markets

Rikki Stancich — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 22:27:40 +0000

Précis:

CSP Today speaks to RioGlass Solar Inc.’s business development manager, Jordi Villanueva, and Josep Ubach, head of engineering, to learn more about the company’s new CSP product lines and its strategy for building a global presence.

Interview by Rikki Stancich

CSP Today: In 2011 Rioglass Solar opened a headquarters in Arizona. Which US projects are you currently supplying?

Jordi Villanueva: The Arizona facility is our third production unit. Currently we are supplying Abengoa’s Solana project and we will also supply mirrors for its Mojave Solar project.

CSP Today: Can you comment on how uncertainty surrounding US renewable energy policy is affecting suppliers like Rioglass Solar?

Image:

Premium`:

Renovalia: dish Stirling OEM gains traction in Spain

Rikki Stancich — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:18:18 +0000

Précis:

CSP Today speaks to Renovalia Energy’s CEO, Jaime Galobart, about progress within its Spanish project portfolio and the outlook for its Stirling dish technology.

Interview by Rikki Stancich

CSP Today: Can you provide a brief overview of Renovalia's solar thermal Stirling dish technology?

Jaime Galobart: Renovalia Energy’s CSP-3000 Concentrating Solar Thermal system concentrates sunlight, using a proprietary dish parabola (impact resistant glass on a light-weight steel structure), onto a 3 kW free-piston Stirling engine to generate clean, emissions free electricity.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

Renovalia is forging ahead with its dish technology projects in Spain

Running on solar: When will CSP fill your petrol tank?

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:45:34 +0000

Précis:

A small group of researchers believes CSP could play a part in developing a new energy economy based on ammonia. Jason Deign reports.

By Jason Deign in Barcelona

What does oven cleaner have to do with CSP? The answer, according to a small but dedicated group of researchers, is that solar thermal power could be used to produce ammonia. And not just for cleaning fluid, but also as a replacement for fossil fuels around the world.

A 2008 report by Jeffrey Bartels and Michael Pate of Iowa State University (ISU) states: “The current use of oil as a primary energy source for transportation creates many challenges to overcome.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

Coming soon to a fuel pump near you?

China: ISCC smoothes the way for CSP

Rikki Stancich — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:27:53 +0000

Précis:

Latest ISCC project in China elicits nod of approval from Beijing

By Paul French in Shanghai

China’s Hanas New Energy Group (also known as Ningxia East Thermal Power Co. Ltd.) recently announced that it has begun construction on a concentrated solar power (CSP) project in Gaoshawo town, Yanchi County, Ningxia province in northwest China.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today India 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

ISCC could help China take significant steps in reducing emissions and increasing energy independence

HelioFocus: Dual-axis dish drives down cost and resource use

Rikki Stancich — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:38:30 +0000

Précis:

CSP Today catches up with Oren Gadot, CEO of HelioFocus, Eli Mandelberg, Executive VP, and BDM Moshe Sadeh, to learn about a high-temperature dual-axis dish solution that slashes operating costs and resource requirement, while boosting CSP operating efficiency.

Interview by Rikki Stancich

Founded in 2007, HelioFocus has developed a full system solution for generating solar power using air as the heat transfer fluid.

The company’s product comprises a unique volumetric receiver positioned at the focal point of a large parabolic dish, onto which concentrated sunlight is reflected. The receiver converts the sunlight into high temperature air, which can be used for a variety of applications.

Image:

Premium`:

MENA: CSP markets gain momentum

Rikki Stancich — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:22:57 +0000

Précis:

CSP Today’s MENA correspondent, Heba Hasham, provides a round-up of CSP projects, innovation and policy in the Middle East and North Africa.

By Heba Hashem in Dubai

As the blistering heat of summer wanes, the drive for solar energy is picking pace in the Arab world. Previously uninvolved GCC nations are now giving CSP second thoughts, while others are examining the feasibility of combining it with desalination. Most of all, governments are finally turning their attention to the long-awaited case of subsidies.

New player emerges

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

Hybrid RE: A red tape gauntlet?

Rikki Stancich — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:54:47 +0000

Précis:

Multiple resources, double the permitting burden…CSP Today takes a closer look at the GE-eSolar-MetCap ‘Project Dervish’ to get insight into the logistical hurdles of developing hybrid renewable energy plants.

By Andrew Williams

Hybrid renewable energy plants, which generate electricity from more than one source of renewable energy, have the potential to help developers in their ongoing battle to lower costs and extend operating hours, particularly during periods of cloud cover or inclement weather.

Image:

Premium`:

Image Caption:

Weighing the advantages of combining solar, wind and gas

GE on CSP: In it for the long haul

Rikki Stancich — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:26:38 +0000

Précis:

GE Energy unveiled a handful of significant CSP partnerships and products in 2011, and the company sees it as a key cog the future of IRCC plants

By Bob Moser, Americas correspondent

GE Energy is a relatively new entrant in the CSP sphere as an equipment provider, but the major splash it made this year in the market shows that this global giant is gung-ho about CSP's long-term potential.

Image:

Premium`:

Power efficiency: CSP hybrid, or standalone with storage?

Rikki Stancich — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:40:29 +0000

Précis:

Both hybrid and thermal energy storage plants are viable options today. But longer-term, what are the relative advantages of thermal energy storage vs. hybridization for concentrated solar power generation?

By Andrew Williams

Concentrated solar power has a major advantage over other renewable energy sources in that it is the only renewable energy that can provide dispatchable power. In other words, by integrating thermal storage into the plant design, a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant can generate energy day and night, with or without clear skies.

Image:

Premium`:

Skyfuel: Blazing trails with blue sky thinking

Rikki Stancich — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:16:44 +0000

Précis:

CSP Today speaks to Skyfuel’s CTO Randy Gee about the company's latest product upgrade and why the company’s high-volume, outsourced manufacturing strategy guarantees success in emerging markets.

Interview by Rikki Stancich

The year 2011 will go down in Skyfuel’s annals as a memorable one. The company brokered supplier deals in several key emerging markets, it set the bar on product performance tests, and rounded off the year with a major product upgrade.

The company kicked off the year with a 12-month operations report from its installation at SEGs II. The results proved that the SkyTrough operates with a thermal efficiency of 0.737 at 350 °C, in keeping with forecasts established by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Image:

Premium`:

Image Caption:

China is one of several key markets that Skyfuel has powered into this year

Spain: CSP can help EU meet renewables targets

Rikki Stancich — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:22:53 +0000

Précis:

The European Union needs a steady supply of dispatchable renewable energy in order to meet its 2020 commitments. Why not get it from Spain’s world-leading CSP industry?

By Jason Deign in Barcelona

It does not take a genius to recognise that Spain’s CSP industry needs all the friends it can get.

Despite leading the world and getting off lightly in the Spanish administration’s savage cutbacks on renewable energy subsidies, the sector still faces an uncertain future, with an impending change of government and, most recently, high-profile criticism from the energy firm Iberdrola.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today South Africa 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

Spain's CSP exports could help EU members meet renewable energy targets

India: Options for financing solar power generation

Rikki Stancich — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:56:14 +0000

Précis:

India’s solar projects present an attractive investment option, but so far international financial institutions have displayed a mixed response, even as the country is emerging as a hot spot for solar generation.

By T.C. Maholtra in Delhi

Solar power generation is on rise in Indian owing to favourable policy support from both the federal government as well as several state governments. But it still remains a risky and expensive option for power generation.

Finance hurdles

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today India 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

Are the options increasing for financing India's solar projects?

India: Why solar ‘migration’ projects missed deadline

Rikki Stancich — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:55:49 +0000

Précis:

CSP Today speaks to Bridge to India's solar sector consultant Mohit Anand about why India’s early CSP projects have missed key deadlines and how developers can best surmount India’s unique challenges.

Interview by Rikki Stancich

India's National Solar Mission policy framework has come under fire, following the announcement that several solar projects, including Entegra Ltd’s 10-megawatt solar-thermal plant in Rajasthan that were eligible for the JNNSM tariff structure, missed their October 15 deadline.

Image:

Primary Event:

CSP Today India 2012

Premium`:

Image Caption:

India's NSM CSP migration projects missed a key deadline

Standard Bank: Tenuous outlook for South Africa's CSP market

Rikki Stancich — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Précis:

CSP Today speaks to Standard Bank’s head of power finance, Alastair Campbell, about how CSP is to compete against coal in South Africa, the challenges for CSP deployment and whether government incentives to bolster local CSP supply chains are likely.

Interview by Rikki Stancich

CSP Today: The Standard Bank has underwritten several PV projects participating in the Renewable Energy IPP procurement process. Why didn't the bank back any CSP projects?

Alastair Campbell: We did pitch on a couple of CSP projects, but were unable to secure a role.

CSP Today: Will the Standard Bank likely underwrite any CSP projects going forward?

Image:

Premium`: