The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will provide $72 million for new projects to advance high-temperature Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technologies, the DOE announced Tuesday.
According to the announcement, these projects will extend previous research on high-temperature components, develop them into integrated assemblies, and test these components and systems through a wide range of operational conditions.
CSP technologies use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a focused point where it is collected and converted into heat. This thermal energy can be stored and used to produce electricity whenever it is needed.
'The best commercially available technologies can only reach 565 degrees Celsius,' the department said, and added that the high-temperature thermal systems targeted by this program seek to achieve at least 700 degrees Celsius, which would boost efficiency and lower the cost of electricity.
If successful, these projects will lower the cost of a CSP system by approximately $0.02 per kilowatt-hour, which represents 40 percent of the department's 2030 cost goals of $0.05 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for baseload CSP plants.
The top three companies that qualified to receive funding are as follows:
1- Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, New Mexico): $9.5 million
2- Brayton Energy (Hampton, New Hampshire): $7.6 million
3- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, Colorado): $7 million
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr