Jan 24 2011
The latest GTM Research Report titled, ‘Concentrating Solar Power 2011: Technology, Costs and Markets,’ indicate a slower growth for CSP installations in 2011.
It mentions that only 472 MW worth of CSP projects are anticipated to be commissioned in 2011 when compared to 767 MW made in 2010. It indicates that the growth for the CSP market will restart again in 2012 with an anticipated installation of 1,200 MW and will achieve 2,000 MW or more growth in and after 2013. The report mentions that solar PV installations pose a major threat to the growth of CSP with the continuous fall in their costs that is faster than that of CSP.
The report runs over 150 pages with over 140 data rich details, and analyses on the current state of the industry with details on cost per watt and cost per kWh for projects, the potential markets (China, Spain and U.S) and details on more than 170 projects that are under the CSP pipeline all over the world. The report projects the anticipated PV and CSP costs and the estimated number of installations up to 2020. The report mentions that though the project costs of CSP are expected to come down by 3% to 7% within the period from 2010 to 2011 the PV projects will continue to have the low cost advantage until 2020.
Brett Prior, the author of the report, said that the CSP industry, which is currently undergoing an unparalleled growth, also faces the threat of extinction. According to him, certain number of projects that were declared during 2007 to 2009 have availed the contracts with the utility companies, secured the required finances for the projects and commenced their construction and will become operational in future. But most of the CSP industry will face the risk of falling PV costs and a number of utility companies moving towards solar PV installations. He cautions about the current trend of converting CSP projects into PV projects to save costs. He anticipates that the CSP industry will face a bleak feature unless there is a drastic improvement in the cost advantage or the utility companies agrees to pay more for the electricity from the store and transmit type of power generation.