While some well-known energy analysts, bloggers, experts or consulting firms point to Photovoltaic Energy (PV) as the “enemy” for the deployment of CSP, due to its rapid falling prices in comparison with CSP in the last years, they don’t see (or don’t want) that CSP in not an alternative technology to PV, it’s a complementary technology, as it has been exposed in the recently published report by NREL “Enabling Greater Penetration of Solar Power via Use of CSP with Thermal Energy Storage” where it takes notice of something really interesting and important about the CSP technology: the thermal energy storage.
CSP plants with thermal energy storage systems are capable of dispatch electricity throughout the whole day, just when the customers decide to turn on their lights, washing machines, air conditioner, etc, and this can’t be achieved neither by PV or Wind power. CSP is able to be used as a base-load source of energy as well as to meet the peak demands.
So, if PV is not the enemy… let’s look for it where it has always been: policymakers, governments, lobbies.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast a “Golden Age of Gas”, due to the huge resources of unconventional gas there seems to be in the world. The price of gas could drop drastically, and the countries which forecast a growth in their electricity consumption could look at combined cycle of gas plants as the cheapest way to meet its demand, and, therefore, reducing their support to renewable energy.
The greenhouse gas emissions would rise rapidly, of course, but, there is a solution: the carbon capture. Although the carbon capture could seem as an important sector to invest in R&D and to be supported by the governments, Why don’t we think a bit about it? Is this the right way? Is this the logic way? Wouldn’t it be more helpful to invest the money in renewable energy that do not produce GHG instead to invest in capturing the carbon emissions? If we don’t mess, there’s nothing to clean, it’s common sense
So, Who is the enemy?, yes, you’re right, the enemy is us, our politicians, our governments, our excessive consumption of energy, …
