Inside Renewable Energy- January 24, 2008
Thu, Jan 24, 2008 3:14 AM
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is emerging as one of the most promising utility-scale renewable energy sources. The launch of Nevada Solar One last June sparked a revival for this so-called “sleeping giant” in the U.S. and marked the first of a series of important developments for the industry. But there is still much uncertainty about the mid-term prospects for CSP, as the possibility of the investment and production tax credits expiring hangs over the industry.
Faced with this rocky investment climate, the U.S. is falling behind countries like Spain, which has a generous feed-in tariff for CSP developers. Mike Taylor, Director of Research for the Solar Electric Power Association just got back from a trip to Spain where he toured a few different projects and talked to developers and financiers. Taylor and CSP Today founder Belen Gallego will tell us about how the Spanish industry is benefiting from the country’s renewable energy support structure.
We’ll also speak with Ausra Executive Vice President John O’Donnell about the company’s unique parabolic trough collectors and about how uncertainty in the U.S. market may impacting its aggressive business plan.
Finally, Darren Kimura, President and CEO of Sopogy talks about micro-CSP and how the company’s technology can play a major role in the distributed generation sector.