When CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) thinks big

One nation that has gotten heavily into CSP power generation is Spain, because of its latitude and sun exposure. It's good to know because Florida has the same attributes and potential. The world's largest commercial CSP plant is situated outside of Seville, but even more impressive is that at the date of this generating station's launch, another 50 such power stations were planned, gearing for 2015. Also impressive is that this new plant was the first in a series array of CSP tower and parabolic plants, with some additional PV (photovoltaics) that would create a solar farm large enough to supply all the power needs of Seville, a population of 700 000. For more on this, see here.

Let's talk about ambition. This is Gerry Wolff speaking on behalf of Desertec. The plan at Desertec is to supply 15% of Europe's electrical demand using a grid of 1000 CSP generating stations laced throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East, which have the added bonus of supplying desalinization plants with power on-site using the excess (waste) heat that is not harnessed in generating electricity.

A proposal of this scope naturally has pitfalls to consider, one being water demand for cleaning mirrors and cooling turbines in a place of scarcity. However the main obstacle is the matter of unity and whether there is enough cohesion nationally and internationally to carry this off, especially in regions of instability. Not to mention that its proposed budget is $550 billion and the plan's duration from start to finish is 40 years. In the meantime, Desertec has been diversifying into Australia and India as well, in the Thar Desert.

And in the meantime Desertec's Africa proposal is gaining the adherents and partners that you would expect, namely Abengoa Solar has come onboard (the Spanish Corporation responsible for the CSP network that opened this article), and so has First Solar from Arizona, USA, who specializes in PV panels (photovoltaics). This was a recent development. The first nation being considered for CSP plants to demonstrate the potential of this framework and viability on the ground is Morocco.

While I am remiss in giving this local relevance, it is worthwhile to see what is going on in the larger picture in order to derive local relevance. It is good to know where solar is succeeding and where it is headed, because there is no better candidate than the Sunshine State. As will follow, the question of whether to go small or go big is a serious debate to consider when it comes to solar power.