THE SUN INVESTORS LIKE

CSP finance: Which projects have investment appeal, and why
Andrew Williams, 16 September 2011 (CSP Today)

"...[M]ost CSP investment tends to focus on ‘proven’ trough technology - predominantly in US and Spanish facilities. But in the future…[CSP] financing and new competition will arrive from the East – particularly from China, which has set targets to become a world leader in CSP technology...[But] because of its position in higher latitudes, dish-based dual-axis tracking-mechanisms may yield higher ROI levels when compared to trough or tower technology…

"In Spain…developers were able to take advantage of feed-in tariffs, which made projects very bankable…In the US, developers were able to take advantage of the DOE’s loan-guarantee program, which significantly reduced the financing costs…[L]argely due to the rapidly decreasing cost of PV…investors are currently treating CSP with caution…[T]he most promising CSP technology is non-Stirling engine-based dish systems, producing electricity through high-temperature supercritical steam generation - and in the future through solar combined-cycles…"

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"The financing of Brightsource Energy’s 392MW Ivanpah project is also a real boost for advocates of tower and heliostat - while parabolic trough technology continues to lead…[A] few Stirling-dish manufacturers and developers continue to raise funding…

"One area that continues to generate interest is thermal energy storage (TES)…In the coming years, CSP is likely to continue to attract investment from a variety of sources. For now, in a landscape shaped by uncertaintly regarding government support, investors will continue to direct future financing at CSP technologies best able to prove their efficiency and long-term commercial viability."