at the marked improvements that Acciona made in going
from the 1-MW Saguaro plant to the 64-M W Nevada Solar
One plant to realize that deployment and scale-up greatly
stimulate technical improvement and cost reduction.
Parabolic trough collectors are the most mature CSP
technology but not the only one. Linear fresnel collectors
use segmented mirrors with lower optical efficiency but
potentially lower cost. Power towers use a field of mirrors,
or heliostats, to focus sunlight onto a central tower. This
avoids moving heat-transfer fluid around a large field and
can achieve higher temperatures. It could potentially generate electricity at a lower cost. The dish-Stirling system uses
a parabolic dish to focus sunlight onto a Stirling engine,
generating electricity right at the focal point of the dish.
This can achieve impressive solar-to-electric conversion
efficiencies, but it does not easily lend itself to thermal
storage, and long-term engine reliability still needs to be
demonstrated.
While it is expected that, in the near term, CSP will
provide electricity to cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas,
some visionaries look forward to a day when we can power
civilization from far-away deserts. One study has examined
the use of high-voltage DC transmission lines to transport
electricity from CSP plants in North Africa to the major
cities of Western Europe. Here in the United States, while
the sun is still shining in the West, Eastern utilities could
use CSP electricity transmitted across the country to meet
evening loads.
ACCiONA ENERGy
Acciona’s 64-MW Nevada
Solar One plant, located
outside Las Vegas, was
dedicated in 2007.
There are currently plans to install more than 7,000 M W
of various types of CSP worldwide, with 4,500 MW in the
United States alone. Undoubtedly, the credit crunch will
slow deployment in the near term. And concerns raised
by some environmentalists regarding use of the desert will
need to be addressed. But as we get serious about fighting
climate change and creating jobs, CSP offers a means to get
a large amount of carbon-free power on the grid in a fast and
utility-friendly way.
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