Solar Thermal: A Comeback?
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since the launch of 2GreenEnergy almost exactly 10 years ago. From the perspective of solar, we saw:
Lots of promise for solar thermal (aka concentrated solar power or CSP)
Precipitous decline in silicon prices
The consequent demise of Solyndra, which was based on a competitive technology
The demise of solar thermal, for the same reason
Now, surprisingly, it’s possible that CSP is making its way back into the picture. As presented here, CSP has recently seen the sharpest decline in cost per megawatt-hour of all flavors of renewable energy.
This is good news, albeit unexpected. I can’t remember the last time I ticked the “solar thermal” box as a blog category; I would have said it had the same chance of relevance at this point as fax machines and rotary phones.
Solar thermal has far greater promise when the energy product considered is heat, rather than electricity.
The thing is, there are MANY industrial processes that require plenty of heat. As a low-grade heat source, solar thermal is unmatched in cost.
So why wouldn’t more companies be willing to install CSP for a heat source, or even for a pre-heating of feedstock before final ramp-up heating?
It’s the structure of subsidies. Most of the subsidies are focused exclusively on installations that produce or store electricity… with very little offered to installations that just produce heat. That’s a shame. Many of those same processes that need heat are just going to burn natural gas or coal in order to get that heat, and the LCOE for a solar thermal steam generator is far lower than that of an NG boiler.
Craig,
The trouble I experience with your analysis of various press releases is you seem to confuse context and more importantly, predictions with what’s actually occurring.
How a solar thermal (CSP)power plant built by a Chinese government owned company and gifted to the government operating company (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority)based in Dubai’s equatorial desert, could be taken as a model for world construction and eventual pricing of CSP plants, is baffling!
Where is any relevant lessen to be learned?
Likewise, what value is there in trumpeting “prices are dropping” when such a claim is obviously untrue? “Prices are predicted to drop in one obscure example, maybe”, would be more accurate.
I’m sorry to sound pessimistic, but this sort of rose-tinted, over optimistic, inaccurate advocacy, lessens credibility and make it much harder to sell and fund clean(er) technology.