Big Solar With Big Storage In China

Will China Save The ‘Other’ Solar Energy, Which Even Runs At Night?

Joe Romm, July 7, 2016 (ClimateProgress)

“…[The photovoltaic (PV) solar panel industry, which uses sunlight to generate electricity, has dominated the solar generation market recently because [the price has dropped] 99 percent in the past quarter century and over 80 percent since 2008…This has [slowed the growth of concentrating solar thermal power (CSP), which applies the sun’s heat to boil water and uses] the steam to drive a turbine and generator…[But China is making a major bet on CSP because the] heat it generates can be stored over 20 times more cheaply than electricity — and with far greater efficiency…[It] can provide power long after the sun has set…Because of its built-in cheap, efficient storage, CSP — aka Solar Thermal Electric (STE) — has the ability to directly address the ‘variability’ or ‘intermittency’ problem that PV has [anytime] the sun isn’t shining…PV could generate 16 percent of the world’s electricity by 2050 [but] as much as 11 percent could be generated by STE at the same time…Both the International Energy Agency and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab have said that after solar PV makes a deep penetration into the electricity market, CSP will likely become more [cost-effective]…” click here for more

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