While the recent growth in output is promising, solar thermal power plants still provide only a tiny fraction of global power consumption.
Features and benefits
+ Realize up-to-date competitive intelligence through a comprehensive review of concentrating solar power technologies concepts in power generation.
+ Assess the emerging trends in CSP technologies – parabolic troughs, solar towers, parabolic dishes, Fresnel reflectors and energy storage.
+ Identify which key trends will offer the greatest growth potential and learn which technology trends are likely to have greater market impact.
+ Compare how manufacturers are developing new concentrating solar power technologies.
+ Quantify costs of csp technologies, with comparisons against other forms of power generation technology, installation costs, cost of electricity.
Highlights
+ While the recent growth in output is promising, solar thermal power plants still provide only a tiny fraction of global power consumption. Total global electricity production in 2008 was 20,169,000GWh. Of this renewable production (mostly from hydropower) accounted for 18.7% and the solar thermal contribution was 0.005%.
+ The average energy density reaching the earth’s surface is about 170W/m3 and the greatest, in the region of the Red Sea, is close to 300W/m3.
+ Across the region encompassing Africa, southern Europe and Asia, there is potential to generate 7,350TWh/y while the Pacific region could provide a further 2,300TWh/y.
Your key questions answered
+ What are the drivers shaping and influencing concentrating solar power technology development in the electricity industry?
+ What does concentrating solar power generation cost? What will it cost in the future?
+ Which concentrating solar power technology types will be the winners and which the losers in terms of power generated, cost and viability?
+ Which concentrating solar power technology types are likely to find favor with manufacturers moving forward?
+ Which emerging technologies are gaining in popularity and why?
Key findings
+ While the recent growth in output is promising, solar thermal power plants still provide only a tiny fraction of global power consumption. Total global electricity production in 2008 was 20,169,000GWh. Of this renewable production (mostly from hydropower) accounted for 18.7% and the solar thermal contribution was 0.005%.
+ The average energy density reaching the earth’s surface is about 170W/m3 and the greatest, in the region of the Red Sea, is close to 300W/m3. Across the region encompassing Africa, southern Europe and Asia, there is potential to generate 7,350TWh/y while the Pacific region could provide a further 2,300TWh/y.
+ There are a large number of parabolic trough power plants either under construction or being developed. Many of these are in Spain where around 2,300 MW are under construction.
+ The most recent direct steam solar tower plants claim a solar to electrical energy efficiency of 15.5% whereas the first molten salt plant to enter commercial service is expected to have an efficiency of 14%.
Use this report to
+ Realize up-to-date competitive intelligence through a comprehensive review of concentrating solar power technologies concepts in power generation markets.
+ Assess the emerging trends in concentrating solar power technologies – including parabolic trough solar thermal power plants, solar tower power plants, parabolic dish solar power plants, Fresnel reflector solar thermal power plants, and energy storage.
+ Identify which key trends will offer the greatest growth potential and learn which technology trends are likely to have greater market impact.
+ Compare how manufacturers are developing new concentrating solar power technologies.
+ Quantify costs of concentrating solar power technologies, with comparisons against other forms of power generation technology, installation costs, and cost of electricity.
Solar thermal power generation depends on both a high solar intensity and a large amount of direct incident radiation not scattered by clouds. The best sites are generally in arid, desert regions with high annual sunshine levels. Most of these sites are found between 15 and 40 of latitude either side of the equator.
