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solar vs csp
Renewable Energy SCIE90014

Assignment 1:
Pros and Cons of Solar PV and Solar CSP compare small-scale roof top PV with large-scale PV and CSP.

There are different types of solar energy, but we tend to compare the two most popular types, Solar CSP and PV since they are commercialised. The main difference between the two is that photovoltaic systems directly convert the solar energy to electricity, while concentrated CSP first convert the solar energy into thermal energy and then into electrical energy through a thermal engine.
The European Photovoltaic Industry Association, EPIA (2012) states that In 2012 rooftop segments represented around 22 GW of the total installations, while utility-scale applications reached more than 9 GW. But this segmentation will shift in the coming years. With the development of PV in the Sunbelt markets, EPIA expects utility-scale plants to grow much faster than rooftop applications. The rooftop market could in the Policy-Driven scenario double from 2012 to 2017 while the utility-scale market could in the same scenario quadruple from 9 to 37 GW.

On the other hand, Renewable Energy Policy Network, REN21 (2013) states that the concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) market continued to advance in 2012, with total global capacity up more than 60% to about 2,550 MW.1. The market doubled relative to 2011. The capacity of CSP is estimated to reach 1089 GW in 2050. With these accelerating future market trends Solar PV and Solar CSP compete with themselves and with other renewables most notably (wind, hydro).

Most of today’s efficiency of commercialized PV panels fall in the range of 10 –15 percent, while Solar CSP has a higher peak efficiency of 21%. IPCC (2007). Compared with PV systems, CSP requires higher capital investment and maintenance cost. Today, concentrated solar power plants are more economical than photovoltaic technologies at sites with annual global irradiations of more than 1300kwh/m2 and the critical level may



References: 1 European Photovoltaic Industry Association, EPIA (2012). Global Market Outlook. Available from: http://www.epia.org/news/publications/global-market-outlook-for-photovoltaics-2013-2017/9182a1a2910b22e8b9d6eaecafd897183c184493 , Accessed 18 Aug 2013. 2 Renewable Energy Policy Network, REN21 (2013). Renewables 2013: Global Status Report. Available from: http://www.ren21.net/Portals/0/documents/Resources/GSR/2013/GSR2013_lowres.pdf , Accessed 18 Aug 2013. 3 Global Energy Network Institute, GENI (2011). Review and Comparison of Different Solar Energy Technologies. Available from: http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/research/review-and-comparison-of-solar-technologies/Review-and-Comparison-of-Different-Solar-Technologies.pdf , Accessed 18 Aug 2013. 4 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC (2007). Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Available from: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg3/en/ch4.html, Accessed 22 Aug 2013 5 European Photovoltaic Industry Association, EPIA (2012). Solar Photovoltaics: Competing in the energy sector. Available from: http://www.epia.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/Competing_Full_Report.pdf, Accessed 18 Aug 2013.

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