Page 6 - REM Annual Review 2021

REM FEBRUARY REM

The future for CSP

Rapidly falling costs of CSP with storage mean the technology is becoming a
more attractive option for green baseload power, writes Richard Lockhart

GLOBAL CONCENTRATED solar power (CSP) has the Stored heat can then be converted into elec-
ability to combine the falling costs of solar gen- tricity by a steam turbine and dispatched as
WHAT: eration and with its energy storage capabilities, required.
6,000 MW of CSP capacity to provide electricity to national grids 24 hours It is especially suited for countries with high
is currently installed a day. levels of solar radiation, typically in arid and
worldwide This combination of ever-cheaper technol- semi-arid areas with reliably clear skies and low
ogy and storage capacity means that utility-scale aerosol optical depths, typically at subtropical
WHY: projects can offer almost uninterrupted grid sup- latitudes of 15° to 40° north or south. Such areas
CSP offers round-the- plies and offer better return on investment than include Australia, Chile and Peru, the Middle
clock solar energy solar PV alone. East and North Africa, India, western China,
by harnessing solar With 6,000 MW of CSP capacity currently South Africa and the south-west US and north-
technology installed worldwide, power purchase agree- ern Mexico.
ment (PPA) prices are falling, reaching $0.073 The report noted that while solar PV prices
WHAT NEXT: per kWh for Dubai’s DEWA 950-MW CSP-PV have been falling recently, reaching $0.02-0.03
Serious investment is hybrid project. kWh in the Middle East, CSP prices for PPAs
needed by current market The combination of generation and storage have decreased from from 0.30 per kWh in the
players, while new has the potential to reduce grid curtailment, US and Spain between 2007 and 2012 to $0.16
countries must invest allowing networks to operate more efficiently per kWh at Morocco’s Noor Ouarzazate III pro-
in CSP plus storage and to supply renewables baseload power, a ject in 2016 and Dubai’s $0.073 per kWh in 2020.
if the technology is to recent report from the International Renewa- The report said that given the decline in the
contribute to a greener bles Energy Agency (IRENA) and the World cost of both solar PV and CSP and storage since
global economy. Bank found. 2007, PPA prices will keep on declining in the
coming years if deployments continue to scale.
Technology Further deployments will incorporate tech-
When combined with thermal energy storage, nological improvements, improve economies
CSP is capable of storing energy in the form of of scale and unlock efficiencies in both the con-
heat, at utility scale, for days with minimal losses. struction and operation of CSP plants.
CSP uses mirrors to focus direct solar radi- However, for CSP costs are a problem. IRENA
ation onto a fluid-filled receiver, known as the and World Bank report says that auction/PPE
heat transfer fluid (HTF), and typically thermal prices in 2021 were $0.039 per kWh for solar PV,
oil or molten salts, which stores the solar energy $0.075 for CSP and storage, $0.043 for onshore
in the form of heat in tanks for hours or even wind and $0.08 for offshore wind.
days.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Annual Review 2021