Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 

C O N C E N T R A T I N G  S O L A R  P O W E R 

SunLab 

Parabolic Trough 

Parabolic Trough 

Workshop Workshop

Welcome to NR

Welcome to NR

Hank Price, NREL 

Robert Pitz-Paal, DLR 

March 8, 2007 

Operated for the United States Department of Energy 

NREL/PR-550-41425
Meeting Ob

• Provide a forum for information exc

parabolic trough technology, markerelated topics of interest. 

• Provide an opportunity for the R&D 

to get feedback from industry on R

– DOE looking to understand how to be

current and future CSP development

C O N C E N T R A T I N G  S O L A R  P O W E R 

Sun

Lab 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 

Operated for the United States Department of Energy 
House

• Introduction of support team • Please sign-in • Location of restrooms • Phone/Internet access • Meals & breaks • Presentations/TroughNet • Foreign National Data Cards • Laboratory Tours • You’re at altitude, drink lots of water!
 

C O N C E N T R A T I N G  S O L A R  P O W E R 

Sun

Lab 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 

Operated for the United States Department of Energy 
Agenda 

• Markets • Resource Assessment • Current Technology Overview 

– Parabolic Trough – Thermal Energy Storage – Power Cycle 

• Advanced Technologies 

– Molten-Salt – Direct Steam Generation 

• Laboratory capabilities and R&D
 

C O N C E N T R A T I N G  S O L A R  P O W E R 

Sun

Lab 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 

Operated for the United States Department of Energy 
Intro

• Introduce self, description of products/se• By business type & organization• Order 

– Laboratory/DOE – Universities – Utilities – SEGS O&M Companies – Trough Technology Providers – Engineering – Developers – Financial – Other 

C O N C E N T R A T I N G  S O L A R  P O W E R 

Sun

Lab 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 

Operated for the United States Department of Energy 
Setting the Stage 
Natura

Natura

Natural Gas Price $/MMBtu 

Historical data for SoCal Border 

from 01/01/2001 to 03/03/2007 

14 12 Katrina 10 

8 6 4 2 0 

Jan-01 Jan-02 Jan-03 Jan-04 Jan-05 Jan-06 

Source: ONLINE DATABAS

C O N C E N T R A T I N G  S O L A R  P O W E R 

Sun

Lab 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 

Operated for the United States Department of Energy 
Costs have increased for al

Prices from Puget So

Source: Puget Sound Energy IRPAG, powerpoint presentation, June 22, 2006. 
Cl

Highlighti

Arctic sea ice in 1979 Arctic sea ic

• Powerful scientific consensus on glob• Damage already occurring • Much worse lies ahead, including risk • Major reductions (60-80% by 2050) nee

dangerous warming: CA, NM, EU, UK, Governors and Eastern Canadian Prem
Coal plants a large part o

Sources of U.S. Energy Related CO 2 Emis

Electricity Generation 

33.8% 

T

from Coal 

Other Electricity
 

Generation
 

7.0%
 Industrial 

Commercial 15.4% 

Residential 4.0% 

6.6%

Source: EPA 2006 
Currently a Major Resur

Coal’s Resurgence • High natural gas prices 

driving new coal rush and higher carbon emissions 

• 159 new plants proposed • No plans to capture and 

store CO2 

• Locks us in for decades to 

highest-carbon energy, with huge environmental AND financial risk 

• IOUs believe they can pass 

costs on to ratepayers 

Push Back • Growing pub

reductions 

• Pressure from • Ratepayers s

risk of these incurred cost

• Grandfatherin

plants is not 

• Many utilities 

include an as

Emissions Costs ($/MWh) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 

SO2 

($997/ton) ($2
Carbon Sequ

IPCC Specia

US$2002 Pulverized 

Coal 

Natura

Gas C

Cost of Electricity w/o CCS ($/kWh) 0.043–0.052 0.031–0.

- Mitigation Cost ($/tCO2 avoided) - Cost of Carbon Capture ($/kWh) - CO2 Avoided - Increased fuel requirements Carbon Capture & Sequestration 

30–71 

0.019–0.047 

81-88% 24-40% 

38–91 

0.012–0.

83-88% 11-22% 

Cost of Electricity w/ CCS ($/kWh) 0.063–0.099 0.043–0.

Potential value of EOR ($/kWh) 0.014–0.018 0.006–0.

Natural Gas PriceCoal Price: 

C O N C E N T R A T I N G  S O L A R  P O W E R 

Sun

Lab 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 

Operated for the United States Department of Energy 
Conventional E

(Blac

0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.20 

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 

Annual Capacity Factor 

Real Cost of Energy (2006$/kWh)

Fuel P

AEONatuCoal: 

C O N C E N T R A T I N G  S O L A R  P O W E R 

Sun

Lab 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 

Operated for the United States Department of Energy 
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 

C O N C E N T R A T I N G  S O L A R  P O W E R 

SunLab 

Parabol

Te

• 354MWe SEGS plants continue in daily o• First new projects in 15 years are comin• Growth in industrial players • New trough technology is improved 

Operated for the United States Department of Energy 
Parabo

Potential Cost 

0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.10 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 

25% 35% 45% 55% 65

Annual Capacity Factor 

Real Levelized Cost of Energy

(2006 $/kWh) 

Baseline 100 MWe 2-Tank Indirect Baseline Plus AdvancMolten-salt Thermocline @ 500C Scale-up to 200 MWe Power Park 4x200 Power Park w/ 3X Lea

C O N C E N T R A T I N G  S O L A R  P O W E R 

Sun

Lab 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 

Operated for the United States Department of Energy 
 

How 

S

0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.10 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15 

Real Levelized Cost of Energy (2006 $/kWh) 25% 35% 45% 55% 65% 75% 

Annual Capacity Factor 

Baseline 2:Tank Indirect Power Park 4x200 

Molten-salt ThermPower Park w/ 3X 

Conventional Gas Combined Cycle Pulverized Coal Sequestered Gas Combined Cycle Sequestered CoaNew Nuclear Power 

C O N C E N T R A T I N G  S O L A R  P O W E R 

Sun

Lab 

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 

Operated for the United States Department of Energy 
N

• Markets 

• Value of CSP Power for U.S. U• Tackling Climate Change in th

Renewables 

• CSP Project Developments 

C O N C E N T R A T I N G  S O L A R  P O W E R 

SunLab Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden CO 

Operated for the United States Department of Energy