Concentrated Solar Power Market Potential

http://energybusinessreports.com - Published March, 2008

Solar power is used synonymously with solar energy or more specifically to refer to the conversion of sunlight into electricity. This can be done either through the photovoltaic effect or by heating a transfer fluid to produce steam to run a generator.

Solar energy technologies harness the sun's energy for practical ends. These technologies date from the time of the early Greeks, Native Americans and Chinese, who warmed their buildings by orienting them toward the sun. Modern solar technologies provide heating, lighting, electricity and even flight.

Concentrated sunlight has been used to perform useful tasks from the time of ancient China. A legend claims Archimedes used polished shields to concentrate sunlight on the invading Roman fleet and repel them from Syracuse in 212 BC. Leonardo Da Vinci conceived using large-scale solar concentrators to weld copper in the 15th century. In 1866, Auguste Mouchout successfully powered a steam engine with sunlight, the first known example of a concentrating solar-powered mechanical device. Over the following 50 years, inventors such as John Ericsson, and Frank Shuman developed solar-powered devices for irrigation, refrigeration and locomotion. The progeny of these early developments are the concentrating solar thermal power plants of today.

Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST) systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. This is then used to generate electricity. Moreover, the high temperatures produced by CST systems can be used to provide process heat and steam for a variety of secondary commercial applications (cogeneration). However, CST technologies require direct insolation to function and are of limited use in locations with significant cloud cover. The main methods for producing a concentrated beam are the solar trough, solar power tower and parabolic dish; the solar bowl is more rarely used. Each concentration method is capable of producing high temperatures and high efficiencies, but they vary in the way they track the sun and focus light.

This report, Concentrated Solar Power, captures all the knowledge you need to know on this topic into one comprehensive report. The report looks at the basics of solar energy, the basics of Concentrated Solar Power, the technologies used in this process, cost analysis of all the technologies, major ongoing projects, and much more. The report also analyzes the major players involved in the industry.

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 7

Introduction to Solar Power 8

Overview 8
Advantages and Disadvantages of Solar Power 8
Advantages 8
Disadvantages 9
Availability of Solar Power 9

Utility of Solar Power 11
Daylighting 11
Heliostat Power Plants 11
Passive Solar Building Design 12
Levels of Usage 13
Solar Cookers 14
Solar Electric Vehicles 15
Design of Solar Cars 15
Electrical System of the Car 16
Drive Train 17
Mechanical Systems of the Car .17
Solar Array of the Car 18
Chassis and Bodies 19
Race Strategy and Solar Cars 19
Solar Hot Water Systems 20
Solar Photovoltaic Technology 20
Solar Power Satellites 21
History of Solar Power Satellite 22
Components 22
Challenges 24
Advantages of SPS 28
Solar Thermal Energy 28
Solar Updraft Tower 28
Overview 29
History 29
Economical Feasibility of Solar Updraft Tower 30
Converting Solar Energy to Electrical Energy 31
Related Concepts 31

Basics of Solar Thermal Power of Concentrating Solar Power 33
Brief History 33
Principles of Solar Thermal Power Conversion 34
Changing Solar Heat into Electricity 35
Why Concentrate Solar Power? 36
Environmental Sustainability 36
Economic Sustainability 36

Technology Overview 38
Parabolic Trough 38
Central Receiver or Solar Tower 39
Parabolic Dish 40
Parabolic Trough Systems 42
Technology Developments 42
Algeria 44
Australia 44
Egypt 44
India 46
Iran 46
Israel 46
Italy 46
Mexico 47
Morocco 47
Spain 47
United States 48
Costing Patterns 48
Case Studies 50
Fresnel Principle Solar Collectors 50
California SEGS Power Plants 50

Central Receiver/Solar Tower Systems 52
Technology Developments 52
Ongoing Projects 54
Spain 54
South Africa 55
Costing Patterns 56
Case Studies 56
400 MW Solar Tower System for California 56
11MW Solar Tower, Seville, Spain 58

Parabolic Dish Engines 59
Technology Developments 59
Costing Patterns 60
Case Studies 60
Saguaro Solar Generating Station 60
Nevada Solar One 62

Market Patterns and Cost Analysis 63

Environmental Benefits of CSP 65
Global Market 66
Global Overview 66
Heated Competition in the Market 69
India 70
Morocco 71
Egypt 71
Mexico 72
Spain 73
Iran 74
Israel 74
Jordan 75
South Africa 76
United States 76
Algeria 77
Italy 78
Australia 78

Challenges and Opportunities 80
Challenges 80
Opportunities 80

Leading Players 82

American Solar Electric 82
Ascent Solar Technologies 82
ATERSA 83
Aleo Solar 88
Atlantis Energy 90
Amonix 91
Ausra 91
AVA Solar 93
BP Solar 94
BSR Solar Technologies 96
China Sunergy 97
Coolearth Solar 99
DayStar Technologies 100
Energy Photovoltaics 101
Entech Engineering, Inc. 102
Evergreen Solar 103
First Solar, Inc 103
Free Energy Europe 106
GE Power 107
Global Solar Energy 107
GT Solar 110
Kyocera Solar 110
Nanosolar 111
Photowatt 114
PowerLight Corporation 114
Q-Cells 115
Sanyo 115
Spire Corporation 116
Sharp Solar Energy Systems 117
Shell Solar 117
CIS Thin-Film Technology 118
Rural Activities 118
Schott Solar 119
Solel Solar Systems 119
Stirling Energy Systems 120
TerraSolar 121
Unisolar 121

Case Studies 122
SolarReserve 122
Solar Two Project 122
Mojave Solar Park 123

Appendix 124

Glossary 128

List of Figures and Tables

Figures

Figure 1: Parabolic Trough 38
Figure 2: Parabolic Trough Power Plant with Hot and Cold Tank Thermal Storage System and Oil Steam Generator 39
Figure 3: Central Receiver or Solar Tower 40
Figure 4: Parabolic Dish 41
Figure 5: Schematic Arrangement of a PV Cell 124
Figure 6: Solar Parabolic Trough System Combined with Fossil Fuel Firing to Generate Electrical Power 124
Figure 7: A Central Receiver Solar Thermal System 125
Figure 8: Solar Pond 125
Figure 9: Integrated Solar/Combined Cycle System (ISCC) 126
Figure 10: Flow Diagram of Solar Field, Storage System and Steam Cycle at the AndaSol-1 Project, Southern Spain 126

Tables

Table 1: Early Solar Thermal Power Plants 34
Table 2: Pros and Cons of Each Technology 41
Table 3: Cost Reductions in Parabolic Trough Solar Thermal Power Plants 49

MIT Research May Bring Down Cost of Solar Energy

by Elizabeth Thomson, MIT News Office

Massachusetts, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

Imagine windows that not only provide a clear view and illuminate rooms, but also use sunlight to efficiently help power the building they are part of. MIT engineers report a new approach to harnessing the sun's energy that could allow just that.

"Light is collected over a large area [like a window] and gathered, or concentrated, at the edges," explains Marc A. Baldo, leader of the work and the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering.

As a result, rather than covering a roof with expensive solar cells, the cells only need to be around the edges of a flat glass panel. In addition, the focused light increases the electrical power obtained from each solar cell "by a factor of over 40," Baldo says.

Because the system is simple to manufacture, the team believes that it could be implemented within three years — even added onto existing solar-panel systems to increase their efficiency by 50 percent for minimal additional cost. That, in turn, would substantially reduce the cost of solar electricity.

In addition to Baldo, the researchers involved are Michael Currie, Jon Mapel, and Timothy Heidel, all graduate students in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Shalom Goffri, a postdoctoral associate in MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics.

"Professor Baldo's project utilizes innovative design to achieve superior solar conversion without optical tracking," says Dr. Aravinda Kini, program manager in the Office of Basic Energy Sciences in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, a sponsor of the work. "This accomplishment demonstrates the critical importance of innovative basic research in bringing about revolutionary advances in solar energy utilization in a cost-effective manner."

Solar concentrators in use today "track the sun to generate high optical intensities, often by using large mobile mirrors that are expensive to deploy and maintain," Baldo says. Further, "solar cells at the focal point of the mirrors must be cooled, and the entire assembly wastes space around the perimeter to avoid shadowing neighboring concentrators."

The MIT solar concentrator involves a mixture of two or more dyes that is essentially painted onto a pane of glass or plastic. The dyes work together to absorb light across a range of wavelengths, which is then re-emitted at a different wavelength and transported across the pane to waiting solar cells at the edges.

In the 1970s, similar solar concentrators were developed by impregnating dyes in plastic. But the idea was abandoned because, among other things, not enough of the collected light could reach the edges of the concentrator. Much of it was lost en route.

The MIT engineers, experts in optical techniques developed for lasers and organic light-emitting diodes, realized that perhaps those same advances could be applied to solar concentrators. The result? A mixture of dyes in specific ratios, applied only to the surface of the glass, that allows some level of control over light absorption and emission. "We made it so the light can travel a much longer distance," Mapel says. "We were able to substantially reduce light transport losses, resulting in a tenfold increase in the amount of power converted by the solar cells."

This work was also supported by the National Science Foundation. Baldo is also affiliated with MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics, Microsystems Technology Laboratories, and Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies.

Mapel, Currie and Goffri are starting a company, Covalent Solar, to develop and commercialize the new technology. Earlier this year Covalent Solar won two prizes in the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. The company placed first in the Energy category ($20,000) and won the Audience Judging Award ($10,000), voted on by all who attended the awards.

Elizabeth Thomson is a writer in the MIT News Office.