New funding for Concentrating Solar Power System Technologies
Concentrating Solar Power System Technologies ( Solar Thermal Magazine). Yesterday, the SunShot Initiative announced $25 million in funding to advance concentrating solar power (CSP) system technologies. This investment will fund research and development (R&D) projects to improve the performance and increase the efficiency of all components of CSP plants, ultimately lowering the cost of solar electricity and producing affordable, clean and renewable energy, even at night, by storing the heat generated by the sun.
This funding opportunity builds on the success of past Energy Department investments in concentrating solar power technologies and will fund transformative projects for all types of CSP systems to enable cost-competitive CSP electric power generation. It targets R&D in technologies with the potential for much lower cost, higher efficiency, and more reliable performance than existing commercial and near-commercial CSP systems.
Eligible projects may include developing transformative solutions to break through current performance barriers, such as efficiency and temperature limitations, and projects to demonstrate or prove new concepts for CSP plant components. Key components targeted for advancements include solar collectors, receivers, thermal energy storage systems, heat transfer fluids, and other technologies that will lower operations and maintenance costs or achieve system-wide cost-efficiencies.
This Energy Department funding builds on SunShot’s work to advance solar energy technologies and make solar energy more affordable and accessible for all Americans.
Learn more about this funding opportunity and find application requirements and deadlines here.
Tags: Concentrated Solar Thermal, CSP
