concentrated solar power

To many the concept of power generated from solar energy and fossil fuels seem diametrically opposed. One fuel source is deemed as futuristic, green and renewable whilst the other is seen as old, dirty and finite. But recent projects being undertaken around the world at the moment demonstrate the synergies that can exist when these two energy sources are combined. The question is: is the combination of solar and coal a first step in the path towards renewable energy, or is it nothing more than propaganda with the intention of slowing the progress of emerging renewable technologies?[read more]

In a bid to identify the tipping point between scale and cost efficiency, the latest report from CSP Today, ‘CSP Parabolic Trough Report: Costs and Performance’, challenges the conventional wisdom on scale and cost.Scaling up plant size is often cited as the concentrated solar power sector’s silver bullet for lowering costs. The theory...[read more]

  The purpose of this study is to show the impact of concentrated solar power, CSP, and PV Solar feed-in-tariffs, FITs, in Spain which has the largest installed base of CSP and the second largest installed base, after Germany, of grid-connected PV solar systems in the world about which much data is available. http://1bog.org/top-10-...[read more]

Photo: SolFocus In The New York Times on Thursday, I wrote that Silicon Valley startup SolFocus is building the first large concentrating photovoltaic power plant in the United States: The nation’s first big concentrating photovoltaic power plant is under construction in the California desert. SolFocus, a Silicon Valley startup, is...[read more]

Sundrop Fuels, Inc., has developed a process using concentrated solar to vaporize biofuel that produces twice as much fuel as conventional gasification. Sundrop’s process works using a network of solar mirrors that point sunlight to a gasifying unit. The unit heats up ceramic tubes to 1,200 to 1,300 degrees C–hot enough to vaporize any...[read more]

TreeHugger reports that Brightsource's proposed solar thermal power plant for Ivanpah in California has been stymied by the inclusion of the site in a new National Park - California Solar-Thermal Power Project Bumped For New National Monument.In 2008 we learned that - BrightSource [was] to Build 500 Megawatts of Solar-Thermal Power in...[read more]

“We are producing the lowest cost solar electrons in the history of the world,” Bill Gross is telling me. “Nobody’s ever done it. Nobody’s close.” Bill Gross is nothing if not an enthusiast, which makes him a great salesman for whatever it is he happens to be selling. A lifelong entrepreneur, a longtime evangelist for solar energy and...[read more]