Although Parabolic Trough is the most widely deployed Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology today, industry trends indicate Solar Tower is gaining in popularity.
CSP Today’s Solar Tower Report 2014: Cost, Performance and Thermal Storage explains surge in popularity for the technology and predicts performance using modelled plants.
Although Parabolic Trough is the most widely deployed CSP technology today, with a current market share of 94%, industry trends indicate Solar Tower is gaining in popularity.
Around 23% of the worldwide Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) capacity under construction will employ the technology, according to CSP Today’s Solar Tower Report 2014: Cost, Performance and Thermal Storage.
A further 38% of plants in development will utilise the technology. This promising growth trajectory coupled with claims that Solar Tower could represent CSP's most viable route towards grid-parity has meant that industry analysts are increasingly focused on this technology.
A number of factors identified by the report will determine the future growth of the technology, such as the reduction of its LCOE and lifetime cost, which will require major technological advancements and greater transparency in terms of cost and performance.
The development of Solar Tower is impeded by a critical lack of reference cost data from actual projects. Using a techno-economical optimization tool developed in house, in combination with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s proprietary System Advisor Model, the Solar Tower Report 2014 investigates the cost of solar tower in eight burgeoning markets; where each market was individually explored and for which a reference plant was defined.
The eight markets examined within the report are China, India, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, UAE and USA.
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