Concentrated Solar Power – Will It Have Its Day?
Anyone who has written off CSP as a technology whose level cost of energy is doomed to remain hopelessly cost-ineffective needs to know that the Saudis are installing this stuff at a record-setting pace.
Why wouldn’t a country sitting on the world’s biggest oil reserve simply keep drilling? It’s because the more renewable energy they consume at a reasonable cost, the more oil they can sell at a profit.
The Saudis find CSP to be cost-effective, or they wouldn’t be doing it. And needless to say, they’re not prone to make silly mistakes in financial mathematics. (Shown above: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal seated on his wide-body jet, shortly after announcing that he was suing Forbes Magazine for underestimating ($20 billion) his $29 billion net worth.)
Craig,
Saudi Arabia also went through a craze of building indoor ski slopes in the Arabian desert… So I’m not sure they are the most concerned with LCOE…
But I do agree with you, I think there’s still vast potential here. Governments that are seeking to build a lasting infrastructure may prefer CSP. The much greater longevity of the investment almost certainly will yield a lower overall LCOE, but short-term investors would add far too high of a discount rate for the future energy. So America prefers PV (for now), but other nations plan differently.
Glad to hear you say that. I know many readers here are CSP fans, and I know that they’ll be delighted that this concept has your imprimatur.