PV Solar , the Fastest Growing Solar Technology- NOT!

While Photovoltaic solar power generation may be better known by the average lay person than say concentrated solar power or solar thermal energy, it is not the fastest growing type of solar technology. Surprised? In fact according to a new study the future of solar energy belongs to Solar Thermal!
According to iSuppli Corp, an independant market analysis company annual global  concentrated solar power installations are projected to reach 10.8 Gigawatts(GW) in 2014, up from just 0.29 GW in 2009. ( Now you know why I started this magazine..). Meanwhile the other solar power (photovoltaic) PV installations will account for 45.2GW in 2014 up from 7GW in 2009.

 In other words Solar Thermal is projected to grow 37 times what it is now or over 6 times the growth rate of solar PV. In other words, readers we were right!

Solar thermal, or Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), is undergoing a boom, as newly installed capacity explodes.( Their words not mine)

The report goes on to say that CSP is currently limited to two countries, one you could guess but the other is not so obvious. Those countries are the United Stated and Spain. There are 10 projects online as of the time of  writing of this article, but by the end of 2011 the number of projects will grow to 40 with another 100 in the planning phase from 30 companies. North Africa, China and Australia are the next CSP high growth areas. Parabolic solar is the dominant technology for the moment but iSuppli believes that tower and dish technology will catch up in the years to come.

If more of these facilties are developed, and should the timetable for CSP be on target, another technology in the move to green energy may be at hand- one that could reduce the market’s dependency on traditonal methods of electrical generation.

Here are 2 examples of my favorite CSP manufacturers that shows extreme promise in the battle for clean energy.

Stirling Energy Systems

The Dish-Stirling Engine system uses very large concentrating mirrored parabolic dish designs, similar in diameter size and scale, to the large satellite dishes used by modern day radio telescopes. This Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) utility plant solution consists of large arrays of these dishes. Each dish-shaped surface collects and concentrates solar radiation onto a thermal receiver, positioned or aligned directly above its center, which absorbs the heat and transfers it to an engine generator. The most common type of heat engine used today in dish-engine systems is the Stirling engine.

Stirling Energy Systems, Inc. (SES) builds the SunCatcher™ solar dish Stirling system, the latest innovation in CSP engineering technology, system modularity and scalability. It combines the best of three critical technologies that result in the world’s most efficient high performance solar-electric power generation.

Acciona Solar Power Inc.

ACCIONA Solar Power, Inc., is a majority-owned joint venture of ACCIONA Energy that develops, owns and operates CSP plants. ACCIONA Solar Power designed, developed, built and now operates ACCIONA’s Nevada Solar One. Nevada Solar One is the first CSP plant to be built in the last 17 years and the third largest in the world. It is a 64 MW plant with the capacity to create electricity equivalent to the needs of approximately 14,000 homes annually.

On a global basis, ACCIONA is involved in CSP and solar-photovoltaic technologies on a utility-scale. We also provide solar hot water technologies as energy-efficient solutions for buildings and other large facilities.

Viva Solar Thermal!

Source: isuppli.com

Short URL: http://www.solarthermalmagazine.com/?p=1521

Posted by admin on May 18 2010. Filed under Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry