Economic opportunities resulting from a global deployment of concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies—The example of German technology providers

Abstract

Several energy scenario studies consider concentrated solar power (CSP) plants as an important technology option to reduce the world's CO 2 emissions to a level required for not letting the global average temperature exceed a threshold of 2-2.4°C. A global ramp up of CSP technologies offers great economic opportunities for technology providers as CSP technologies include highly specialised components. This paper analyses possible value creation effects resulting from a global deployment of CSP until 2050 as projected in scenarios of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Greenpeace International. The analysis focuses on the economic opportunities of German technology providers since companies such as Schott Solar, Flabeg or Solar Millenium are among the leading suppliers of CSP technologies on the global market.

The potential role of concentrated solar power (CSP) in Africa and Europe—A dynamic assessment of technology development, cost development and life cycle inventories until 2050

“…(DLR, 2007) In the year 2009, 604 MW el of CSP plant capacity was in operation globally, 761 MW el were in construction and 5,780 MW el were in the planning phase. (Vallentin and Viebahn, 2009) Since parabolic troughs are the most mature CSP technology, they dominate these figures with a share of 75% (planned) and nearly 100% (in operation and in construction).…”

On the technical and economic feasibility of a solar thermodynamic power plant in an area of medium–high direct sunlight intensity: an actual case study

“…Considering the economic model presented in the previous paragraph (Eqs. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and taking into account the values reported in Table 1, we analysed the income statement derived from building the CSP Fresnel plant previously described. In Fig.…”

“…Summarising the results reported in the literature, we can observe that the thermodynamic solar power technology looks promising and herald a new eco-friendly energy supply. However, as highlighted by Valentin and Viebahn [12], the plants operating with the thermodynamic solar power technology are characterised by high capital costs due to an immature economy of scales. Consequently, even if the engineering problems, like energy optimisation, installation issues, or solar collector efficiency, can be solved, it is worthy to investigate on the actual economic convenience in the investing on the thermodynamic solar power technology.…”

Improved Light Absorption of GaInP/GaAs/Ge Solar Cell Modules With Micro/Nanoengineered Coverglasses

“…The transmittance of the PSMSC was influenced by variations in the vertical incident angle, while it remained unaffected by variations in the parallel incident angle. Nonetheless, the vertical incident angle-dependent transmittance of PSMSC can be minimized by using a solar tracking system and a parabolic trough concentrator [24], [25] because the direction of installation of the solar module with PSMSC can be controlled as shown Fig. 3(c).…”