Estimating the Capacity Value of Concentrating Solar Power Plants: A Case Study of the Southwestern United States

Journal Article · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · IEEE Transactions on Power Systems

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/TPWRS.2011.2179071· OSTI ID:1043743

Madaeni, Seyed H.; Sioshansi, Rameteen; Denholm, Paul

We estimate the capacity value of concentrating solar power (CSP) plants without thermal energy storage in the southwestern U.S. Our results show that CSP plants have capacity values that are between 45% and 95% of maximum capacity, depending on their location and configuration. We also examine the sensitivity of the capacity value of CSP to a number of factors and show that capacity factor-based methods can provide reasonable approximations of reliability-based estimates.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1043743
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA-6A20-53629
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Power Systems Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 27; ISSN ITPSEG; ISSN 0885-8950
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
APPROXIMATIONS
CAPACITY
CONFIGURATION
ENERGY STORAGE
SENSITIVITY
SOLAR POWER PLANTS
capacity value
concentrating solar power
equivalent conventional power