On the Back Burner

A "power tower" solar-thermal electric plant similar to this one was planned for southern New Mexico, but it has been canceled.

Image: Courtesy eSolar

Until recently, most energy developers expected concentrating solar-thermal power plants to dot desert landscapes in New Mexico and other Western states.

But thanks to the recession, solar-photovoltaic systems are gaining ground instead as excess inventories and innovation lower costs and as risk-averse banks prefer to back PV over emerging solar-thermal technologies.

That’s put solar-thermal electric development on the back burner in New Mexico and elsewhere, at least in the short term, said Jason Marks of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission.

The problem is not just timing, Marks added. Rather, it’s an endemic situation facing the concentrating solar power (CSP) industry.

“PV has gone from being more expensive than CSP to being less expensive,” Marks said. “Everybody is now running away from CSP, and it’s not clear to me when the next solar-thermal project will come around again.”

That’s a problem, because PV systems generally provide up to 20 or 30 megawatts of electricity, but CSP offers hundreds or thousands of megawatts, Marks said.

Unlike PV, which directly converts sunlight to electricity, CSP uses thermal energy from the sun to heat water and other fluids to create steam for turbine generators. Massive arrays of mirrors concentrate sunlight onto tubes filled with fluids and other elements, such as molten salt, that can hold heat and continue generating steam even when the sun goes down.

The newness of CSP technology and the tight credit market have made it hard to get commercial loans. The Department of Energy has so far approved just two projects nationally for loan guarantees, said Gerald Fine, president and CEO of Schott North America, which makes CSP components at its plant in Albuquerque.

“Customers are telling us that the DOE program is critical for CSP, but it’s moving very slowly,” Fine said. “Most of our products are headed to European markets.”

To read more about the challenges to solar power innovations, click here for the full story from the New Mexico Business Weekly (subscription required).