CSP Has Promise over Fossil Fuels


The solar power industry is quickly gaining ground. A fresh look at the industry shows that the output from the industry is prone to general glitches during the operation time. As it stands, the sole concentration plants that are capable of generating large amounts of power are the most affected in this recent surge in operational problems.

Despite the emerging issues in solar generation technology like technical glitches, the solar power industry has seen tremendous growth in productivity over the last decade. Among major prospects, the industry’s most notable development is the reduction in the price of solar power compared to previous generation technology. The shift from silicon-based panels allows the industry energy generation capacity to be on par with fossil fuel energy.  

The price difference between the two is evident both in the UK as well as the US. However, European countries started their development earlier on with Spain’s executive government issuing incentives for plant owners to develop better solar technologies. This initiative pushed buyers and sellers to work toward developing more efficient panels capable of delivering high volumes of power.  

However, recent research by NREL uncovered tendencies to have faster production times overlap the need to have quality checks in place. Companies entering the industry would launch the operations from a small scale power plant and scale up to generate more energy with larger plants. Another option is to get a partner already in the market to help set up the large scale plant.

However, the latter is not that likely. According to the group manager at NREL Mehos, the new players in the market rarely teamed up with established partners. When they did, the old partners did not disclose operational details learned in production. This development forced new players to start the process from scratch, learning what the established parties knew, all while continuing production.

The result is the availability of half baked products in the market that are sold as operational pieces of equipment. On the positive side, Mehos relates that hopefully, the new partners will be able to learn from previous failed attempts and develop better systems.  

Mehos also explains his view on improving solar power generation capabilities. According to Mehos, a mix of the power tower version of Concentrates Solar Panels system with silicon cell technology stands a better chance at solar generation compared to Fossil fuels. This is because silicon-based panels allow for energy generation during the early hours of the day as well as the evening when the sun doesn’t have much power.