concentrating solar power

A new poll on Thursday found overwhelming support for building giant solar farms on America's pristine public lands.

The poll [pdf] was conducted by Gotham Research Group, a national pollster, and was commissioned by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a 1,100-member trade group. It was done mainly to gauge support for plans by the U.S. Department of Interior to fast-track environmental reviews of 14 solar plant proposals in the American West.

The poll found that 75 percent of Americans across all demographics, regions and political parties approve of a utility-scale solar boom. But it also revealed a partisan divide when solar power was pitted against wind farms, nuclear plants, oil wells, natural gas facilities and coal plants.

"Solar energy is the top priority across the board—except among Republicans," Jeff Levine, president of Gotham Research Group, told reporters.

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A report to be released in the first half of this year finds that Australia can use solar and wind power to produce 100 percent of its electricity in 10 years using technologies that are available now.

The study is being compiled by the Victoria–based advocacy group Beyond Zero Emissions and is based on the research of engineers and scientists.

"We have concluded that there are no technological impediments to transforming Australia’s stationary energy sector to zero emissions over the next 10 years," said Matthew Wright, executive director of Beyond Zero Emissions.

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With the new year, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) reaffirmed its commitment to 'fast-track' the nation's first utility-scale solar energy projects on public lands.

The BLM pledged to complete environmental impact studies for 31 of America's "most promising" renewable energy projects by December 2010. Fourteen of these are proposed solar plants — 10 to be built in California and the rest in Nevada and Arizona. The other projects include seven wind farms, three geothermal plants and seven transmission projects.

Together, these fast-track proposals have the potential to power 900,000 homes. The hope is to make them eligible for stimulus money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which expires in less than a year.

Coal-addicted South Africa may be on the verge of going solar. More than that, the nation could become the springboard for a solar rise in the whole sun-rich region.

On Oct. 9, the government of South Africa and the Clinton Climate Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the nation's first "solar park." The project could add up to 5,000 MW of grid-connected solar to South Africa's energy mix, which currently stands at close to zero.

The first step is a feasibility study to size up the commercial potential of the project — the solar radiation, land availability, transmission access and cost, water, job creation, among other things.

Of course, pledging to make a business plan is not the same as pledging to break ground — but it's a start. And it comes amid other signs that South Africa is getting serious about its solar future.

Silicon Valley solar newcomer Ausra Inc. and the Queensland State Government have announced plans to give Australia’s biggest coal-fired plant a 23-megawatt solar boost.

The project calls for concentrating solar power (CSP) to be tacked on to the state's 750-MW Kogan Creek coal unit. If the scheme wins the $200 million in government funding the parties are after, it will be the largest demonstration of its kind in the world.

The plans are part of a growing global push to squeeze more electricity out of conventional power plants with cleaner fuels — and get more solar power on the grid at lower cost.

Investors, take heed: The market for desert solar farms is poised for breakaway growth.

That's the main finding of a new report by Swiss bank UBS on the state of concentrating solar thermal power (CSP).

"The CSP market is on the point of taking off. After a long period of stagnation, the market is now evolving more dynamically. Interestingly, for regions in the sun belt, CSP offers similar opportunities as large offshore wind farms in Europe," the report says.

UBS says that growth rates of 35 percent over the next few years could add 20,000 MW of solar farms by 2020. Current installed capacity is just around 500 MW.

The report, "Solar Thermal – A New Power Giant is Awakening," does not chart any new territory, but it's distinctly clear about the opportunities that lie ahead for potential investors.

A consortium of 20 blue chip German firms has thrown its weight behind the gigantic Desertec Sahara solar plan.

A new study helps explain why: The mega project could help spawn 240,000 new green jobs in Germany and deliver up to $2 trillion in profits to companies by 2050, according to the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy.

Desertec was launched in 2007 by the German association of the Club of Rome. Its architects seek to spread a supergrid of concentrating solar thermal plants (CSP) across a 6,500 square-mile stretch of North African desert to eventually power most of Europe.

According to the Wuppertal report, exporting the CSP technologies to Africa and other desert solar hotspots would help German manufacturers build on their already strong solar market share.

CSP "offers great opportunities for German plant builders," the authors wrote. They reveal the nation's likely winners:

The most ambitious solar power plan ever conceived may be coming into some serious cash.

A group of 20 German firms is forming a consortium this July to begin raising $555 billion for the much-discussed Afro-European solar research project known as Desertec, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung revealed this week.

Desertec seeks to transform Saharan Africa into a solar hub for Europe by constructing a supergrid of concentrating solar thermal plants (CSP) on 6,500 square miles of North African desert. They claim their scheme could eventually meet much of the continent's electricity needs.

Half a trillion dollars in funding would certainly be a tremendous start in that direction. In fact, that kind of financing would be enough to power 15 percent of the continent by 2050.

Talk about a boost for Big Solar.

The news of the colossal cash infusion is grabbing global headlines. And it's no wonder. The firms involved are some of the heaviest hitters in Europe: insurance giant Munich Re, German engineering leader Siemens, Deutsche Bank, energy companies RWE and E.on, among others.

Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants could meet 7 percent of the world's power needs by 2030 and 25 percent by 2050, according to a new report by Greenpeace, the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association and the International Energy Agency.

Such systems currently make up just 430 megawatts of generation capacity, or less than one half of one percent of electricity needs worldwide.

CSP "is about to step out of the shadow of other renewable technologies and can establish itself as the third biggest player in the sustainable power generation industry," the report's authors write.

If that giant leap in capacity happens, they say, the sector would employ 2 million people in the next four decades and save 2.1 billion tons of global warming emissions in 2050.

To great media fanfare, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced that Australia will build the "world's largest" solar installation. To make it happen, he pledged a billion-dollar subsidy as part of the 2009-10 federal budget.

That investment is 10 times greater than Australia's total funding commitment to solar to date.

The facility will consist of four utility-scale solar plants. Two of them will be concentrated solar power (CSP) plants, or solar thermal, while two will use solar photovoltaics (PV). Together they will churn out a coal plant's worth of electricity – up to 1,000 MW – or enough to power roughly 800,000 homes.

"Rather than to be solar followers worldwide we intend to be solar leaders worldwide," Rudd declared.

Truth time: If global leadership is the goal, then Australia has a long way to go.

Annually, the nation has the highest average amount of solar radiation per square meter of any continent on the planet, and nearly all of it is untapped.