The Economics and Policy of Concentrating Solar Power Generation

207 Pages·2019·4.869 MB·English

by  Pere Mir-Artigues, Pablo del Río, Natàlia Caldés

Green Energy and Technology
Pere Mir-Artigues
Pablo del Río
Natàlia Caldés
The Economics
and Policy of
Concentrating
Solar Power
Generation
Green Energy and Technology
Climate change, environmental impact and the limited natural resources urge
scientific research and novel technical solutions. The monograph series Green
Energy and Technology serves as a publishing platform for scientific and
technological approaches to “green”—i.e. environmentally friendly and sustain-
able—technologies. While a focus lies on energy and power supply, it also covers
“green” solutions in industrial engineering and engineering design. Green Energy
and Technology addresses researchers, advanced students, technical consultants as
well as decision makers in industries and politics. Hence, the level of presentation
spans from instructional to highly technical. **Indexed in Scopus**.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8059
í
Pere Mir-Artigues Pablo del R o
(cid:129) (cid:129)
à é
Nat lia Cald s
The Economics and Policy
of Concentrating Solar Power
Generation
123
PereMir-Artigues Pablodel Río
Energy Sustainability Research Group Institute for Public Policies andGoods
University of Barcelona ConsejoSuperior deInvestigaciones
Barcelona,Spain Científicas(CSIC)
Madrid,Spain
NatàliaCaldés
Energy Systems Analysis Unit
CentrodeInvestigaciones Energéticas
Medioambientales y Tecnológicas
(CIEMAT)
Madrid,Spain
ISSN 1865-3529 ISSN 1865-3537 (electronic)
Green Energy andTechnology
ISBN978-3-030-11937-9 ISBN978-3-030-11938-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11938-6
©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2019
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
orinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar
methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfrom
therelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained
hereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremainsneutralwithregard
tojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations.
ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG
Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland
Foreword
Theclimatechangecausedbythemassiveuseoffossilfuelshasbecomemoreand
moreevidentduringthiscentury,andamoresustainableenergymarketistherefore
needed to avoid a global warming above 2°C, which would put the mankind in a
dramaticsituation.Inthiscontext,solarenergyisseenasoneofthebestoptionsto
reducetheconsumptionoffossilfuels,notonlyintheelectricitymarketbutalsoin
the industrial sector in general because heat represents three quarters of the
worldwide industries’ energy demand, and 90% of this heat (79.5 EJ) is currently
supplied by fossil fuels.
Concentrating solar thermal (CST) systems are internationally recognized as a
key element among the different options to use solar energy and thus, reduce the
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The facilities using CST systems to produce
electricity,theso-calledsolarthermalelectricity(STE)plants,ormoretraditionally
concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, are showing a good reliability and high
dispatchability. With only slightly more than 5 GW of total installed power, STE
plants have already achieved a significant cost reduction and they still have a
significant potential to reduce costs further. Cost is a major issue when talking
about the use of renewable energy systems to produce electricity, because unfor-
tunately this is usually the only item taken into consideration by policymakers,
investors, and grid operators when comparing the conventional fossil-fueled tech-
nologies with modern clean renewable options. The economic added value of
dispatchabilityand“spinningreserve”for the grid arenotincludedinmost ofcost
analysis,anditisthereforecriticaltoanalyzeSTEsystemswithalternateeconomic
metrics, because the so-called Levelized-Cost-of-Electricity (LCOE) is not a suf-
ficientindicatorofitsvaluefortheelectricalsystem.Thisfactisasignificantbarrier
for STE plants because their great socio-, techno-, and economic benefits are not
taken into account when performing this comparison.
Thisbookclearlydepictshowarduous theprocessofeconomicoptimizationof
STEplantsisbecauseofthemanytechnicalandeconomicvariablesinvolved.The
detailed cost analysis of STE plants is quite complex because of the many
parameters and boundary conditions that must be taken into account. This is the
mainreasonwhytheavailabilityofdetailedinformationisessentialtoguaranteethe
v
vi Foreword
usefulness ofthe results obtainedfrom a STEplants’ feasibility study, which must
include not only economic parameters, but also many other parameters and con-
siderations. This book provides the reader with this type of data and information,
whichwillhelpyounotonlytogetacquaintedwiththecomplexityassociatedwith
the economics of STE plants, but also to get a comprehensive knowledge of the
currentworldwidesituationandtrendsofthistechnologywithdetailedinformation
aboutthenationalplansforSTEplantsinthosecountriescurrentlypromotingthese
systems.
The three authors of this book, Dr. Pere Mir-Artigues, Dr. Pablo del Río, and
Dr. Natàlia Caldés, have an excellent background and experience in the subject of
this book. They have performed an extensive research on renewable energy sys-
tems,coveringlifecycleassessmentsandanalysisofsupportschemesforrenewable
electricity, the interactions of climate and renewable energy policies, and on the
driverstoeco-innovationinenergy, industry, and theenergy andtransport sectors.
Duringtheirprofessionallife,theyhaveacquiredavaluableoverviewofrenewable
energy systems and their socio-, techno-, and economic issues. This book can be
considered a melting pot of their valuable experience applied to STE plants.
When reading this book, I quickly became aware of the huge effort devoted by
the authors to consult and look into many journal articles, items from newspapers,
reports from relevant associations and institutions, publications exclusively dedi-
catedtoSTEsector,andrelevantenergyjournals,thusobtainingandputtingtothe
disposal of the reader a very comprehensive information about not only cost
analysis and technological trends, but also about the drivers and barriers of this
technology. Another important contribution of this book is the complete analysis
performed by the authors of the social value of solar thermal electricity in a
changingelectricitysystembyidentifyingitsmainroleinthedifferentstagesofthe
structural change of the electricity sector, thus determining the value of solar
thermal electricity, which is understood as its contribution to the success of the
energy transition, that is, to the evolution toward an electricity system with a
dominantroleofrenewableenergysources.Theauthorsalsogiveinterestingideas
and a vision of the possible management and key pillars for the sustainability of a
decentralized and basically renewable electricity sector.
In summary, this book will provide you with a quite complete overview of the
past,present,andpossiblefutureofsolarthermalelectricity,whichisconsidereda
key element to evolve toward a green electricity market due to its socioeconomic
benefits and complementarity with less dispatchable renewable energy options.
Almería, Spain Eduardo Zarza Moya
CIEMAT-Plataforma Solar de Almería
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Concentrating Solar Power Technologies: Solar Field
Types and Additional Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1 Parabolic Trough Collector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Solar Tower. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3 Linear Fresnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4 Paraboloidal Dish with Stirling Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.5 Other Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.6 Thermal Energy Storage Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.7 Solar Thermal Hydrogen and Desalination Processes . . . . . . . . . . 19
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3 Short History, Recent Facts, and the Prospects of Concentrating
Solar Power Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.1 Early Steps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.2 A Slow Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.2.1 The Installed Capacity Stages from 2007 Onwards . . . . . . 41
3.2.2 Evolution of Generation Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.2.3 Cost Reductions: Experience and Expectations . . . . . . . . . 53
3.2.4 A Cost Comparison with Other Renewable
Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.3 Drivers and Barriers to Concentrating Solar Power
Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.3.1 A Literature Review on the Drivers and Barriers
to CSP Deployment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.3.2 The Drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3.3.3 The Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
vii
viii Contents
4 Economics of Concentrating Solar Power Generation. . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.1 The Value Chain of the Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.2 Design of Plants and Economic Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4.2.1 Design Point and Solar Multiple. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.2.2 Economic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.3 The Values of Concentrating Solar Power Electricity Generation
in a Changing Electricity System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.3.1 A Stylized Model of Structural Change of the Electricity
Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.3.2 Values of CSP Electricity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
5 Support for Research, Development, and Demonstration . . . . . . . . . 135
5.1 The Need for RD&D Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
5.2 Instruments for the Support of RD&D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.3 Data on Innovation Activity in CSP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.3.1 Patents’ Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.3.2 Bibliometric Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
5.3.3 Public RD&D Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
5.4 Future Technological Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
6 Public Support Schemes for the Deployment of Plants . . . . . . . . . . . 157
6.1 China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
6.1.1 Energy Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
6.1.2 Promotion Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
6.2 India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6.2.1 Energy Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
6.2.2 Promotion Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
6.3 Morocco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6.3.1 Energy Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6.3.2 Promotion Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.4 South Africa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
6.4.1 Energy Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
6.4.2 Promotion Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.5 Spain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
6.5.1 Energy Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
6.5.2 Promotion Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
6.6 United Arab Emirates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
6.6.1 Energy Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
6.6.2 Promotion Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Contents ix
6.7 USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
6.7.1 Energy Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
6.7.2 Promotion Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
7 Summing Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197