CSP faces choppy waters in private lending sea

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Government aid will end soon, and CSP will have to prove its technology and profitability to risk-averse banks and private financiers.

By Bob Moser, Americas correspondent
Nov. 18, 2011

With key government aid programs likely to expire at year’s end, concentrated solar power (CSP) developers will have to turn to a private investment market that may be too risk-averse to back the relatively unproven technology over renewables like PV and windpower, which are also aggressively competing for lender attention.

Of 103 CSP plant locations on CSP Today’s 2011 US CSP projects map, 17 are currently operational, eight are under construction, and around 78 in various stages of planning. But across the industry, a recent rash of bankruptcies and major shifts in tech-commitment may be overshadowing the positive groundwork many firms are laying.

Public bidding for Chilean CSP pilot imminent

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As the public bidding process for Chile’s first CSP plant approaches, national investors and analysts say concentrated solar power could be a perfect fit in the country’s northern desert region, and solve national problems like energy security and clean water needs.

By Bob Moser in Sao Paulo
April 23, 2010

Chile’s huge potential for CSP technology lies in its excellent environmental conditions in the high-altitude northern Atacama desert area, and the demand in that area from some of the world’s largest mining companies, which have struggled for years with inconsistent power sources.

“This could be a great help to our energy security because we really have a lack of power, and need to develop alternatives. The mining industry doesn’t have enough energy security, and needs to become independent of energy sources from (neighboring countries),” said Gerardo Valle, CEO of Solar Energy Chile, a developer of photovoltaic solar systems that is also exploring CSP options in Chile. “CSP can represent a great alternative for the north of Chile, maybe more than photovoltaic ever could.”

US regulation: Short, sharp shock treatment for developers?

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Regulations governing concentrating solar power project development are becoming increasingly rigid in the US with regard to land use and environmental impact. The impact on the type of CSP technology deployed will be significant, say analysts.

By Bob Moser, US correspondent
Jan. 28, 2010

In the US, the CSP sector’s technological makeup will be dictated in many ways by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which analysts say, is pushing some to wholly reconsider the size and scope of plants.

The most aggressive debate is over dry cooling versus wet cooling. Dry cooling adds to a plant’s capital expenditure and reduces its efficiency. Systems that are lower temperature generators, like a parabolic trough, will take a larger hit on its total capacity factor – its ability to sell megawatts.

DOE’s Loan Guarantee Program: Proving its worth?

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By Bob Moser, US correspondent
May 21, 2010

The Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program is supposed to encourage greater investment in the CSP sector. But with seven months to go before an important December 2010 deadline, analysts say administrators are moving too slowly on project approvals, and require overly rigorous, sometimes redundant applications.

The jury is still out, but critics may take comfort in the relatively rapid growth the program has experienced under Jonathan Silver, and his candor about the DOE’s goals and pursuit of efficiency.

Silver admits that before he arrived as executive director in November 2009, the program was moving very slowly. But since December, his office has been confirming roughly two new project loans per month, and expects to boost that to three to four loans per month from now through year’s end.

CSP developer strategy: Clinching the deal with US utilities

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CSP Today examines how CSP projects can gain the critical edge over other renewable energy projects vying to sign power purchase agreements with US utilities.

By Bob Moser, US correspondent
Sept. 6, 2010

Utility-scale CSP projects must jump through a number of hoops to close a deal with Western US-utility companies, which are receiving more and more applications from alternative energy projects.

One often overlooked key to utility contract success lies in following protocol and instructions as close as possible, said Mark Severts, spokesman for NV Energy. Most applicants that take the time to bid seem to follow guidelines pretty carefully, Severts noted, because it’s just too expensive not to.

The cash deposit necessary to place a bid with NV Energy has gone up steadily in recent years, from US$7,500 in 2009 for projects greater than 10 MW (US$3,500 for those below 10 MW), to a deposit of US$10,000 in early 2010 for the latest round of 10 MW project bids. It’s undecided whether that price will continue to climb for the next bid window, set for within the next few months.

CSP for industrial applications: A market ripe with promise

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Heavy industry can be a viable secondary market today for CSP producers, but questions remain on whether start up costs are justifiable for industrial users, and how reliable CSP can be for processes that can’t pace production by the sun. CSP can help clean up refineries

By Bob Moser, US correspondent
Sept. 2, 2010

Solar thermal heat implies steam, and industries that need steam include refining, food processing, wood-working, desalination and chemicals, among others.

Enhanced oil recovery using CSP is an intriguing application that is already being tested, where steam of a relatively low heat is forced deep underground to liquify and release thick oil deposits. Brightsource is using CSP technology in Coalinga, California, pumping steam into a heavy oil reserve.

“All of these heavy industries could use solar thermal heat energy instead of electricity,” explains Nathaniel Bullard, lead analyst on North American solar for Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “Everything is upstream of the power block.”