The global Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) installed capacity achieves steady growth in 2015, increasing 421.1 MWe than 2014. Total installed capacity is about 4940.1 MWe, increasing 9.3%.
The largest new increasing installed capacity is in Morocco with new increasing capacity 160 MW, thanks to its Noor 1 parabolic trough plant built in the latter half of 2015. However, it should be noted here that the project developer scheduled the operation ceremony on December 27, but it is temporarily suspended now. The official did not give any explanations. The possible reason is that the project failed to get the full acceptance of owner. Nonetheless, it has also been listed in this statistics of new installed capacity of 2015.
South Africa followed by. South Africa market makes great progress in 2015. KaXu Solar One with installed capacity 100 MW is operated on March 2, 2015. And Bokpoort with installed capacity 50 MW is officially put into operation in December, 2015. Meantime, the bidding project in the first round, Khi Solar One with capacity 50 MW in South Africa REIPPPP is expected to be put into operation in the first half year of 2016; the bidding projects in the third round, Xina Solar One and Ilanga CSP 1 with respectively capacity 100MW in South Africa REIPPPP are under construction; the bidding projects in section B of third round, Kathu CSP and Redstone with respectively capacity 100MW in South Africa REIPPPP also have optimistic conditions.
The high-profile construction in America market is crescent dune molten salt tower plant. Although it is said this plant was in grid and operation in the fourth quarter of 2015, it has not been officially announced. And it is also included in this statistics of new installed capacity of 2015.
In China, new increasing installed capacity of 2015 is 300kWth from Jiangsu Xin Chen, secondary reflection demonstration project. There is no other larger project in operation.
For Chinese market in 2015, the most notable is completion of declaration and audit of CSP demonstration projects. It is estimated that new increasing installed capacity in China is expected to grow rapidly in 2016 ~ 2017 with an explosive growth by 2018.
The following plants are expected to be completed in 2016: Dunhuang molten salt tower plant with capacity 10 MW from SUNCAN Co., Ltd., Delingha molten salt tower reconstruction project with capacity 10 MW from SUPCON Co., Ltd, Zhangjiakou Fresnel demonstration projects with 15MWe (now upgrade to 20MWe) from Shenzhen Huaqiang Zhaoyang Co. Ltd., Dunhuang Fresnel molten salt plant with capacity 10 MW from Lanzhou Dacheng Technology Co., Ltd. In 2017, Delingha parabolic trough projects of China General Nuclear Power Group with capacity 50 MW and other large scale commercial CSP plants are expected to be put into operation. In 2018, most CSP demonstration projects about 1 GW are expected to be completed. At that time, China will become the hottest emerging market in global CSP market.
Figure: Global CSP Installed Capacity by the End of 2015【Statistics by country】
| Nation |
Total Installed Capacity |
Increasing Installed Capacity of 2015 |
Notes |
Growing Rate |
| Spain | 2362MWe | 0 | Because of deterioration of renewable energy policy in Spain, CSP plants have no new increasing capacity. | 0 |
| America | 1830MWe | 110MWe | New installed capacity is crescent dune molten salt tower plant with 110MW. It is said that this plant was in grid and operation in the fourth quarter of 2015, but it has not been officially announced. | 6.5% |
| India | 205MWe | 0 | There is no new CSP installed capacity in India in 2015. First phase of national solar plans of Nehru issued a total of seven CSP projects with 470 mw, but four of seven in 2015 failed to be put into operation as they are expected. | 0 |
| Morocco | 180MW | 160MWe | NOORI, parabolic trough plant with capacity 160MW in Morocco was completed in the latter half of 2015. The project party scheduled the operation ceremony on December 27, but it is temporarily suspended. The official did not give any explanations. Nonetheless, it has also been listed in this statistics of new installed capacity. | 800% |
| SouthAfrica | 150.56MWe | 150MWe | KaXu Solar One, parabolic trough plant with installed capacity 100 MW in South Africa is operated on March 2, 2015. And Bokpoort with installed capacity 50 MW is officially put into operation in December, 2015. | 26800% |
| UnitedArabEmirates | 100.1MWe | 0 | The dish demonstration project with 100MW of Cleanergy in Dubai is formally operated in this year. This projects installation has been listed into the statistics of new installation of 2014. | 0 |
| Algeria | 25MWe | 0 | The operating project now is combined cycle plant, Hassi R’mel ISCC with 25MWe. | 0 |
| Egypt | 20MWe | 0 | The operating project now is combined cycle plant, Kuraymat ISCC with 20MWe. | 0 |
| China | about 18.1MWe | about 0.1MWe | The new increasing installed capacity is secondary reflection demonstration project of Jiangsu Xin Chen with 300kWth. | 0.5% |
| Iran | 17.25MWe | 0 | The operating project now is combined cycle plant, Yazd ISCC with 17MWe and a demonstration project with 0.25MWe. | 0 |
| Australia | about 6MWe | 0 | The operating projects now are Fresnel and coal complementary project, Liddell with 9.3 MWth and LakeCargelligo, graphite tower demonstration project with 3MWe. | 0 |
| Italy | 6.35MWe | 1MWe | Rende, biomass and solar combined cycle plant with 15MWe was built by Falck Renewables in Italy. Therein, solar installed capacity 1MWe was completed in 2014 and operated formally in 2015. | 18.7% |
| Israel | 6MWe | 0 | On June 11, Megalim Co., Ltd held a ceremony for Ashalim1 with 121MW in Negev desert of Israel. Ashalim1 was jointly invested and constructed by the financial group of French Alstom and BrightSource energy from United States. Ashalim2 in Israel with 121MW was bided by consortium of Abengoa and Shikun & Binui of Israel. Abengoa bankruptcy crisis leads to the uncertainty of the project. | 0 |
| Chile | about 2.3MWe | 0 | Cerro Dominador, the first commercial molten salt tower plant of Abengoa, with 110MW is being constructed in Chile. However, Abengoa bankruptcy crisis leads to the increasing uncertainty. The operating now in Chile is concentrated heat utilization project with 7MWth. | 0 |
| Thailand | 5MWe | 0 | The constructed project is Thai Solar Energy 1 DSG, parabolic trough plant with 5MWe. But this plant has been stopped operation as a result of technology problem. | 0 |
| Oman | about 2.3MWe | 0 | On July 8, 2015, Petroleum Development Oman PDO announced that they will establish jointly global largest solar EOR project with GlassPoint, Solar EOR developer in California, America. This project is named as Miraah with capacity 1GWth. Solar thermal storage produces steam and heat oil to improve the liquidity of heavy crude oil and enhance oil recovery. It is estimated that total investment of project is up to $600 million. This project has been under construction since October, 2015 and it is expected to be operated in 2017. This is a milestone of solar EOR. The operating project now of Oman is Solar EOR with 7MWth built by Glasspoint which lays a foundation for the above large scale commercial project development with 1GWth. | 0 |
| Saudi Arabia | 0 | 0 | Saudi Arabia earlier planned to finish solar installed capacity 41GW to 2032. Therein, CSP capacity 25GW. But in January 2015, Saudi Arabia delayed to achieve the goal, no later than in 2040, which postpone eight years than the original plan. Although plan is delayed, the target is very big. The reality is that Saudi Arabia has not a commercial CSP plant. The only progress in CSP project development of Saudi Arabia in 2015 is that the bid party is confirmed of Duba1ISCC fuel solar combined cycle plant, Spanish Inteq Energia solar energy company and Saudi SSEME lectro Mechanic Work. | 0 |
| Kuwait | 0 | 0 | TSK, Spain engineering group has confirmed the bid of Shagaya, parabolic trough plant, with capacity 50MW in Kuwait. This project is also the first CSP project of Kuwait. | 0 |
| Canada | 1MWe | 0 | The operating project now in Canada is Medicine Hat, solar combined cycle plant with capacity 1MW. | |
| Turkey | 1.4MWe | 0 | The operating project now is Greenway, tower demonstration plant with capacity 1MW. | 0 |
| Germany | 1.5MWe | 0 | The completed project is JülichSolarTower built by DLR. | 0 |
| France | 0.25MWe | 0 | The completed project is Fresnel project with 0.25 MWe built by Solar Euromed. | 0 |
| Total | 4940.11MWe | 421.1MWe | In 2014, global CSP installed capacity is about 4534MW. | 9.3% |
| Notes: To facilitate statistics, electric power is calculated at the rate 33% of thermoelectric conversion efficiency of using parts of heat utilization projects installation. | ||||
