csp posts, articles, and infographics

Australia: Solar Flagships extends deadline, re-opens bidding

February 7, 2012 by Bea Gonzalez
with 157 views

The Solar Dawn consortium proposing to build a 250MW solar thermal plant in south-west Queensland as part of Australia’s Solar Flagships program has won a six month extension to its contract after initially failing to gain finance for the project. However, the future of the $1.2 billion project looks uncertain. [read more]

Report Forecasts 130% Growth in Asia-Pacific Solar Market for 2011

November 30, 2011 by Nathanael Baker
with 371 views

Once an after-thought in solar development, the latest data shows the Asia-Pacific region is becoming the industry's biggest market for photovoltaic solar power. According the research performed by Solarbuzz, and presented in its Asia Pacific Major PV Markets report, Asia's PV market is forecast to increase 39% in the final quarter of 2011. Looking at the numbers annually, between Q4 2010 and Q4 2011, the region's market will have grown 130%. [read more]

Say, Look What THEY’RE Doing!!!

August 16, 2011 by Rich Maltzman
with 398 views

One of our favorite cartoonists is Gary Larson, who for many years drew “The Far Side“. And one of our favorite Far Side cartoons was one in which he depicts a flock of ducks walking on the ground in a”V” formation. One of the ducks in the back of this walking group looks up and sees a flock of ducks flying in a v-formation.... [read more]

Recovering Appalachia: A Transition From Coal To Solar

July 18, 2011 by Dan Hofmann
with 420 views

I had such a great response to my recent commentary that I thought it would be worth the time to take an in depth look at the implications of the massive undertaking of transitioning Kentucky to solar. Now that we know it’s physically possible for solar photovoltaics (PV) to supply all of the electricity needs in Kentucky by... [read more]

Solar v. Energy Efficiency: What's Worth It?

June 27, 2011 by Christopher Williams
with 2,288 views

“Oppositions: Pennies From Heaven?” event with Urban Green Council in New York City was a debate about whether solar PV was worth the premium cost compared to less capital-intensive strategies such as energy efficiency measures. The event felt like the judges had made up their minds before the defendants had a chance to testify... [read more]

20MW Gemasolar Plant: Elegant, But Pricey

June 6, 2011 by Nathan Wilson
with 6,459 views

Torresol Energy has announced the commissioning of its Gemasolar CSP electrical plant. It went on-line 5/24/2011, with a maximum output of 19.9 MW, and 15 hours of thermal energy storage, which allows it generate power 24 hours per day many months per year. The cost is about $33 per average Watt delivered. [read more]

Concentrated Solar Power’s Question Of Scale: Why Bigger Is Not Better

May 5, 2011 by Bea Gonzalez
with 266 views

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]

Solar Millennium Explain The Key To Making CSP Viable

April 18, 2011 by Bea Gonzalez
with 264 views

The move towards CSP yield optimisation has a number of causes and a number of solutions – and the opportunity now exists to give the technology long-term viability. In the build-up to the CSP Yield Optimisation Europe Conference & Expo (31 May – 1 June, Seville), Solar Millennium explained to CSP Today exactly how the company... [read more]

Starter Homes Get Solar Panels As Standard Equipment

March 28, 2011 by Todd Woody
with 387 views

Among the standard features offered for new homes at Manzanita at Paseo del Sol, a KB Home development in a desert suburb southeast of Los Angeles, are nine-foot ceilings, six-panel doors and a 1.4-kilowatt solar array.While KB Home has offered rooftop photovoltaic panels as an option for some time, the home builder now will... [read more]

Solar Not Just A California Thing Anymore

March 11, 2011 by Todd Woody
with 314 views

The United States solar businesses boomed, as usual, in 2010, growing 67 percent to $6 billion, according to an annual report released Thursday by an industry trade group. That’s been the story for the past several years, but what’s notable is that solar is no longer just a California thing. The industry is expanding to the East. Back in... [read more]

Arizona Solar Power Doubles in 2010

March 10, 2011 by Reginald Norris
with 499 views

Arizona solar made substantial strides in 2010 by installing over 54 megawatts of solar power, doubling its 2009 output of 21 megawatts, ranking it fourth in the U.S. According to a study by the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research, 878 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic (PV) capacity and 78 MW of concentrating solar power (... [read more]

Concentrating Solar Power in Shipping Containers

February 21, 2011 by Taylen Peterson
with 741 views

Take a look at any one of the concentrating solar power (CSP) projects in the U.S. and elsewhere, and you can see that – while CSP is undeniably the most efficient form of solar energy—the land needed (5 to 10 acres per megawatt) is considerable. At least, it used to be. Now, a company called Nanogen Power Systems, Inc. has developed... [read more]

Impact of CSP and PV Solar Feed-In Tariffs in Spain

November 8, 2010 by Willem Post
with 2,820 views

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]

Solar’s long and winding road

July 8, 2010 by Marc Gunther
with 1,766 views

Fred Morse

Fred Morse In 1969, the Nixon White House asked a young assistant professor of engineering at the University of Maryland whether solar energy made sense for America. Absolutely, he replied. Four decades later, Fred Morse is still trying to persuade the government to put its muscle behind solar. Last week, he scored a big victory. In his... [read more]

Torresol Energy Constructing More CSP Stations

June 17, 2009 by Big Gav
with 149 views

Renewable Energy World reports that Spain continues to lead the way in constructing solar thermal power plants - Torresol Energy Constructing CSP Stations. Torresol Energy, 60% owned by SENER, has begun work on the construction of two new concentrating solar power (CSP) plants located in Cadiz, in the town of San José del Valle.The... [read more]