Category: Solar Thermal
Concentrated Solar Power — Hot Clean Energy Plan
| September 3, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
Here’s a few minutes of video on a business plan I really love. It’s a breakthrough in concentrated solar power, or CSP, aka solar thermal energy, made by a guy I’ve met and come to know and trust. And I like the “walk before you run” approach; the plan contemplates the development of two small (1 – 2 megawatt) pilot plants, using this breakthrough technology.
Gigawatt Solar Project Switches from CSP to PV
| August 22, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
I was disappointed to learn that the gigawatt solar project in Blythe, CA decided to switch from CSP to PV. The issue, at least on the surface, is “bankability,” i.e., maturity of the technology, along with the obvious fact that the price of PV is falling sharply – 30% in 2010 alone. But at a certain point, I’m hoping that someone somewhere sees the awesome potential of CSP and really starts to crank on it.
When that happens, we’ll start to see ideas like Ahura Energy start to come into greater focus, if you’ll pardon the pun.
Solar thermal, of course, comes in many different flavors — some (like Ahura) claiming to have made breakthroughs in cost and/or efficiency. I’ve met with these people, like the concept as I understand it, but still haven’t been told the details of the secret sauce.
Concentrated Solar Power, Aka Solar Thermal — Good Video
| July 26, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
I frequently extol the virtues of CSP (concentrated solar power), aka solar thermal. For those looking for a good introduction with images that illustrate the concept, the link above is a solid video on the subject.
Is Areva Really Involved in Solar? We Can Live With the Truth Either Way.
| June 21, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
I’m at a loss to understand something, and I’m wondering if I could appeal to readers to help explain it.
Last year, Areva, the French energy giant, best known (at least in the US) as a nuclear energy company, bought Ausra, the up-and-coming US-based solar thermal company. More than a year later, we Americans hear almost nothing about Areva’s work in solar. In fact, the Wall Street Journal’s article this morning detailing the ouster of Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon didn’t mention the word “solar” once.
One might suspect the worst: they bought the company only to nullify the threat it represented.
Yet if you Google “Areva” you find dozens of mentions of their accomplishments in solar all over the world. It’s almost as if some sort of disinformation campaign was being waged. Any insights?
Ahura Energy Claims Breakthrough in CSP Cost, Efficiency
| May 8, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
Thanks to all those who wrote in commenting, or requesting more information on Ahura Energy, the folks with the claim to breakthrough CSP cost/efficiency. I should have mentioned that I’m under NDA re: the technology. And, though the company’s founder and I have talked in vague terms about the “secret sauce,” I’m still not 100% clear on it. I hope to see a demo later in the month, and I’ll certainly provide as much information as I can asap.
Ahura Energy Claims Breakthrough in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
| May 5, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
My drive up to the Bay Area yesterday included a meeting with Ahura Energy CEO Fareed Sfard in the quaint town of Saratoga. But what once was originally a sleepy stagecoach stop is now the home to a company that claims to have set the world on fire with a huge breakthrough in renewable energy.
In fact, Ahura’s innovation in the field of concentrated solar power (CSP) promises grid parity (an equivalence in price of electricity with that of coal, the dominant source of electrical energy in the US today) more or less immediately. The secret sauce? Proprietary low-cost actuators that track the sun through the sky without the expense of the electric motors and controls that normally go along with this set of technologies, eliminating the major cost components that hold back even our most advanced CSP system designs. An enormous claim, to be sure.
“I have a saying that goes like this,” I joked with Fareed as we spoke; ”It’s always cheap until you build it,” referring to the fact that, at this moment, most of Ahura’s technology is working only at far smaller scale than that necessary to prove real-world application.
My host smiled and nodded politely, undeterred by my remark, which he certainly could have taken as a cheap shot. But I wasn’t worried about his taking offense; I had seen though our many previous conversations that he is a man of science, with a gracious bearing.
Further, let’s acknowledge two facts. Here is:
1) A guy who ran 12 factories of the biggest contract manufacturer in the world (Solectron) which put more products into the market than anyone on the planet over a period of 3 1/2 years. I believe this is particularly relevant, as those were products with complexity and tolerance requirements with 3 or more orders of magnitude more complicated than what Ahura has here — which is “light assembly” (vs. real manufacturing).
and …
2) A bill of materials which truly is incredibly simple and inexpensive.
We’ll see what happens, but I actually am betting he can come up with the goods.
Please let me know if you’d like to learn more.
BrightSource’s Solar Thermal Plant and the Desert Tortoise
| May 1, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
Oakland, CA-based BrightSource will soon be raising $250 million in an IPO to complete a 393-megawatt solar thermal project in the Mojave Desert. The project is under attack, however, as the land involved in the deal is home to the desert tortoise. In fact, BrightSource has already shaved 500 acres (and about 50 megawatts) off of its original blueprints to accommodate concerns from environmentalists.
But don’t we need to weigh the environmental impact of the project – equivalent to taking 90,000 gas-powered cars off the road, against the plight of a certain number of desert tortoises? It seems ironic that we’re so compassionate towards our reptiles when we don’t seem as adamant in our dealings with coal-fired power plants, the noxious output of which causes the premature death of tens of thousands of human beings every year.
Concentrated Solar Power – A Bit of Intrigue at the Santa Barbara Summit on Energy Efficiency
| April 28, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
I had a wonderful chance encounter the other day with Melinda Keller, a professor of engineering at California Polytechnic at the Santa Barbara Summit on Energy Efficiency. It seems that she specializes in CSP (concentrated solar power) – and is tackling what is arguably its thorniest problem: cooling. CSP does best in the desert, but that’s where cooling is the toughest. How efficiently can you cool a fluid by blowing 115-degree air past it?
Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell me the exact nature of her project, as it’s funded with private money by a group that wants to keep the work under wraps at this point. But she asked, “Just ask yourself: What’s cold in the desert?”
How intriguing! “The air at night? Underground?” I probed.
She smiled mysteriously. Looks like I’ll have to wait to get my answer.
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP): Lowering Costs and Improving Efficiencies
| April 24, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
In this segment of the 2GreenEnergy Video Report, I cover concentrated solar power (CSP), aka solar thermal. It appears that one of our clients has made a real breakthrough in lowering costs and improving efficiencies.
Earth Day Lunch with Belen Gallego, Director of CSP Today
| April 22, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Solar Thermal |
I’m in New York City for a few days, and I’ve scheduled my lunch today with Belen Gallego, the Director of CSP Today (Concentrated Solar Power, aka solar thermal). When I interviewed Belen for my “Clean Energy Radio” show a few weeks ago, she impressed me as a wonderful, knowledgeable person, quite enthused with her cause.
I can’t think of a better way to spend a few hours on Earth Day, celebrating a technology that really does have the potential to transform the way we generate our electrical power. I hope readers will learn more about this on the CSP Today website, and sign up for the free newsletter.
