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Title: Policies to keep and expand the option of concentrating solar power for dispatchable renewable electricity

Abstract

Concentrating solar power (CSP) is one of the few renewable electricity technologies that can offer dispatchable electricity at large scale. Thus, it may play an important role in the future, especially to balance fluctuating sources in increasingly renewables-based power systems. Today, its costs are higher than those of PV and wind power and, as most countries do not support CSP, deployment is slow. Unless the expansion gains pace and costs decrease, the industry may stagnate or collapse, and an important technology for climate change mitigation has been lost. Keeping CSP as a maturing technology for dispatchable renewable power thus requires measures to improve its short-term economic attractiveness and to continue reducing costs in the longer term. We suggest a set of three policy instruments - feed-in tariffs or auctions reflecting the value of dispatchable CSP, and not merely its cost; risk coverage support for innovative designs; and demonstration projects - to be deployed, in regions where CSP has a potentially large role to play. This could provide the CSP industry with a balance of attractive profits and competitive pressure, the incentive to expand CSP while also reducing its costs, making it ready for broad-scale deployment when it is needed.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [5];  [1];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Federal Swiss Inst. for Technology, Zurich (Switzerland)
  2. MENARES, Casablanca (Morocco)
  3. Research Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology (CIEMAT), Madrid (Spain)
  4. Dow Chemicals, Tarragona (Spain)
  5. German Aerospace Center (Stuttgart (Germany)
  6. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  7. Univ. Autonoma de Madrid (Spain)
  8. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
OSTI Identifier:
1424578
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5500-71043
Journal ID: ISSN 0301-4215
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Energy Policy
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 116; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0301-4215
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY; concentrating solar power; solar thermal power; policy support; policy design; innovation

Citation Formats

Lilliestam, Johan, Barradi, Touria, Caldes, Natalia, Gomez, Marta, Hanger, Susanne, Kern, Jurgen, Komendantova, Nadejda, Mehos, Mark, Hong, Wai Mun, Wang, Zhifeng, and Patt, Anthony. Policies to keep and expand the option of concentrating solar power for dispatchable renewable electricity. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2018.02.014.
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Lilliestam, Johan, Barradi, Touria, Caldes, Natalia, Gomez, Marta, Hanger, Susanne, Kern, Jurgen, Komendantova, Nadejda, Mehos, Mark, Hong, Wai Mun, Wang, Zhifeng, & Patt, Anthony. Policies to keep and expand the option of concentrating solar power for dispatchable renewable electricity. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.02.014
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Lilliestam, Johan, Barradi, Touria, Caldes, Natalia, Gomez, Marta, Hanger, Susanne, Kern, Jurgen, Komendantova, Nadejda, Mehos, Mark, Hong, Wai Mun, Wang, Zhifeng, and Patt, Anthony. Fri . "Policies to keep and expand the option of concentrating solar power for dispatchable renewable electricity". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.02.014. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1424578.
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@article{osti_1424578,
title = {Policies to keep and expand the option of concentrating solar power for dispatchable renewable electricity},
author = {Lilliestam, Johan and Barradi, Touria and Caldes, Natalia and Gomez, Marta and Hanger, Susanne and Kern, Jurgen and Komendantova, Nadejda and Mehos, Mark and Hong, Wai Mun and Wang, Zhifeng and Patt, Anthony},
abstractNote = {Concentrating solar power (CSP) is one of the few renewable electricity technologies that can offer dispatchable electricity at large scale. Thus, it may play an important role in the future, especially to balance fluctuating sources in increasingly renewables-based power systems. Today, its costs are higher than those of PV and wind power and, as most countries do not support CSP, deployment is slow. Unless the expansion gains pace and costs decrease, the industry may stagnate or collapse, and an important technology for climate change mitigation has been lost. Keeping CSP as a maturing technology for dispatchable renewable power thus requires measures to improve its short-term economic attractiveness and to continue reducing costs in the longer term. We suggest a set of three policy instruments - feed-in tariffs or auctions reflecting the value of dispatchable CSP, and not merely its cost; risk coverage support for innovative designs; and demonstration projects - to be deployed, in regions where CSP has a potentially large role to play. This could provide the CSP industry with a balance of attractive profits and competitive pressure, the incentive to expand CSP while also reducing its costs, making it ready for broad-scale deployment when it is needed.},
doi = {10.1016/j.enpol.2018.02.014},
journal = {Energy Policy},
number = C,
volume = 116,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Feb 16 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Fri Feb 16 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.02.014
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Cited by: 38 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Remuneration of all existing (end 2016) CSP stations and for projects under construction with disclosed data (about 80% of all projects). Source: www.csp.guru.
All figures and tables (3 total)
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Works referenced in this record:

Product complexity, innovation and industrial organisation
journal, February 1998

Appropriate design of auctions for renewable energy support – Prequalifications and penalties
journal, February 2017

Impact of political and economic barriers for concentrating solar power in Sub-Saharan Africa
journal, March 2017

Understanding the absence of renewable electricity imports to the European Union
journal, September 2016

  • Lilliestam, Johan; Ellenbeck, Saskia; Karakosta, Charikleia
  • International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Vol. 10, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1108/IJESM-10-2014-0002

Empirically observed learning rates for concentrating solar power and their responses to regime change
journal, June 2017

Barriers, Risks and Policies for Renewables in the Gulf States
journal, August 2015

Comparing carbon capture and storage (CCS) with concentrating solar power (CSP): Potentials, costs, risks, and barriers
journal, August 2012

The future cost of electrical energy storage based on experience rates
journal, July 2017

Concentrating solar power in a sustainable future electricity mix
journal, September 2013

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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    The Impact of Dispatchability of Parabolic Trough CSP Plants over PV Power Plants in Palestinian Territories
    journal, October 2019

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      Figures / Tables found in this record:

      Figure 1 (p. 5)figure
      Figure 2 (p. 7)figure
      Figure 3 (p. 8)figure
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