Australia’s transition to renewables is gathering speed, but there’s a looming problem with storage. We will need much more long-duration storage to get us through the night, once coal and fossil gas exit the system. We also need to find new and better ways to create heat for industrial processes. [...]
The CSIRO Renewable Energy Storage Roadmap identifies Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) as the lowest cost technology for long-duration renewable energy storage, among the storage technologies required to reach net zero in Australia. The CSIRO Renewable Energy Storage Roadmap outlines the significant role that concentrating solar thermal power (often referred to as [...]
Renewable energy storage must undergo massive growth if Australia is to achieve net zero by 2050. A new report from the CSIRO and supported by ARENA funding, says between 10 to 14 times more storage could be needed in the coming decades to support the National Electricity Market (NEM). The [...]
It is my pleasure to extend a warm welcome to you to participate in the SolarPACES 2023 International Conference to be held October 10-13, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. 2023 will be another challenging year for global energy supply and demand. Meeting all three requirements of energy supply – clean, reliable [...]
Concentrated solar thermal (CST) technology concentrates sunlight onto a target to create very high temperatures. This heat can be used directly in industrial processes or to generate electricity by heating water for steam to turn a turbine. CSIRO's heliostat field with Tower 2 operating on-sun in Newcastle, NSW [...]
Next-generation solar thermal energy storage technology developed in partnership with the Australian Solar Thermal Research Initiative (ASTRI) has reached a major milestone, with the United States Department of Energy announcing it will fund commercial-scale testing. The technology, which has been produced with input from CSIRO, the Australian National University and [...]
The Turnbull Government has launched a $200 million CSIRO Innovation Fund which will commercialise early stage innovations from CSIRO, universities and other publicly-funded research bodies. This joint government-private sector fund will help Australia's home grown innovations become successful businesses, and in doing so create jobs and boost Australia's productivity and [...]
Australia's solar heliostat technology will be used for concentrating solar thermal (CST) electricity generation in China.In continued emphasis on mitigation and adaptation, CSIRO has partnered with Chinese company Thermal Focus, following China's announcement to produce 1.4 GW of CST by 2018, and 5 GW by 2020. This would double the [...]
At the CSIRO's Energy Centre campus on the northern outskirts of Newcastle are two 40-metre "power towers": one is curved and elegant, the other a mess of girders and gantries, ducts and pipes. "This is the tower designed by the architects," says the CSIRO's Robbie McNaughton, pointing to the elegant [...]
Operating at Stockland Wendouree Shopping Centre in Ballarat, Victoria, the system uses concentrating solar thermal technology to produce heat energy used to power the air conditioning system. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) provided $520,000 to support the $1.2 million project, jointly managed by CSIRO with Stockland Group and NEP [...]
In June, the CSIRO announced that it had managed to generate supercritical steam using solar energy.
A CSIRO test plant in Australia has broken a world record and proved concentrated solar power could efficiently replace fossil fuels.
Australia's peak scientific research body has claimed a major breakthrough in renewable energy that it claims has the potential to make concentrated solar power cost-competitive.
