Date:
June 10, 2014
Source:
DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Summary:
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) projects would add additional value of 5 or 6 cents per kilowatt hour to utility-scale solar energy in California where 33 percent renewables will be mandated in six years, a new report has found.
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| solar power |
Concentrating
Solar Power (CSP) projects would add additional value of 5 or 6 cents per
kilowatt hour to utility-scale solar energy in California where 33 percent
renewables will be mandated in six years, a new report by the Energy
Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has found.
The
report, "Estimating the Value of Utility-Scale Solar Technologies in
California Under a 40% Renewable Portfolio Standard," finds that CSP, with
its ability to store energy for several hours or more, helps maintain firm
capacity in the hours when the sun is below the horizon. Compared to variable
generation technologies this translates to an increase in value of 5 cents per
kilowatt hour under a 33% renewable standard -- the mandate for 2020 -- or 6
cents per kilowatt hour under a 40% renewable standard. The added value means
that at peak demands, CSP can help lower electricity bills.
"CSP
adds significant additional value when compared to less flexible generation
sources," NREL CSP Group Manager Mark Mehos, co-author with Jennie
Jorgenson and Paul Denholm of the study, said. "As the penetration of
renewables rises, so does the relative value of CSP. CSP could also allow
greater penetration of PV by making the grid more flexible and reducing
curtailment of PV by generating energy after the sun sets. We intend to
investigate this in more detail for the remainder of this year."
While
photovoltaic modules capture the sun's light and turns it into useable
electricity, CSP technologies concentrate the sun's energy and capture that
energy as heat, which then drives an engine or turbine to produce electrical
power. However, the thermal energy CSP generates can be held back for several
hours via storage systems such as molten salts -- and then used after the sun
sets when demand is still high for, say, air conditioning, television, and
lighting.
The new
report, funded through the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy in support of its SunShot Initiative, compares the total
operating costs of a system with and without an incremental amount of CSP with
thermal energy storage or solar PV. It also analyzes capacity value. The report
is the second in a series of analyses of the value of CSP with thermal energy
storage. The previous report, "Estimating the Performance and Economic
Value of Multiple Concentrating Solar Power Technologies in a Production Cost
Model," is available on NREL's web site.
NREL is
the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable
energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for the
Energy Department by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140610205520.htm
