Concentrated Solar Power Industry Analysis

Concentrated Solar Power Industry Analysis:

According to concentrated solar power industry analysis report, the market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.7% over the forecast period.  The government has introduced some strict norms to reduce carbon emissions which have led to the rise in demand of concentrated solar power as a power producing process.

Concentrated solar power industry is a capital intensive industry that has constant support from the government and private companies. The high awareness in Europe and North America along with developing countries of Asia Pacific is expected to foster market growth.

Raising support of government in adopting renewable technology is anticipated to help this market expand. The increasing consumption of power and electricity globally is projected to augment market demand. There is a rise in the demand for renewable resources for energy generation in mining industries as well. The carbon emission rules and laws are expected to lower the use of other natural resources and increase inclination towards solar energy.

Concentrated Solar Power Industry Analysis: Technology Insights

A parabolic trough system is the most used form of concentrated solar energy. It uses mirrors to focus heat on the fluids which is piped to a heat engine for the purpose of electricity generation. One of the advantages of the parabolic trough system is that the heat generated can be stored for use after the sun sets. However, new advanced technologies with higher efficiency and enhanced properties are anticipated to hamper market growth over the coming years.

Power towers also use mirrors to track sunlight which reflects on the top of a tall tower. They have great potentials for a wide scale production and usage because of their greater storage system and efficiency of the thermal conversion. The usage of power towers is for industries requiring a high and dense supply of heat or electricity.

Parabolic dish has dish shaped mirrors to focus the rays on a receiver which is mounted over the dish. For electricity generation, thermal energy is converted into mechanical energy through a Stirling engine. The size of the dishes is generally between 10kW and 25Kw and can be used for large scale and small scale application.

Linear Fresnel collectors (LFCs) use a series of mirrors which are long flat or slightly curved, at different angles to concentrate on the sunlight. The receiver is a long tube selectively coated. The main reason why these are preferred over parabolic troughs is that they use cheaper flat glass mirrors and it needs less steel and concrete which makes it easier to handle.

Concentrated Solar Power Industry Analysis: Application Insights

One of the most instinctive uses of concentrated solar power is for heating water. Domestic and institutional uses include consumption of water, heat and power in dormitories, hospitals, and residential establishments. . CSP is used in generating electricity by heating water that helps in running steam turbines.

CSP also can be used for large scale desalination of seawater as an alternative to fossil fuels. Desalination needs constant power to operate which can be provided by the thermal storage system of CSP.

Thermal technologies can provide the same amount of power as natural gas; which is one of the primary reasons CSP is used in enhanced oil recovery. They can be installed in oil fields in regions where natural gas has limited availability. CSP is more sustainable than gas-fired steam production process thereby increasing its preference in the oil industry.

Concentrated Solar Power Industry Analysis: Regional Insights

The two leading CSP markets are Spain and the U.S Feed-in tariffs in Spain and renewable portfolio standards and tax incentives in the U.S are factoring expected to boost the demand for CSP in these countries. Presently, these two countries together have 90% of the current CSP capacity. Other countries where concentrated solar power is integrated with natural gas combined cycle plants are Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco. The Middle East, China, India, and South Africa have taken up large a CSP projects which are anticipated to influence market growth positively.

Concentrated Solar Power Industry Analysis: End User Landscape

The end-user landscape entails a list of current and prospective consumers prevailing across the regions. This section provides company addresses, contact details, products, and regional presence of companies who are purchasing or are likely to purchase gas engine over the coming years.

Some leading purchasers of the concentrated solar power market are residential areas such as households, buildings, flats, etc., commercial buildings such as hospitals, colleges, offices etc., and industrial use such as for electricity, cooling, heating etc. Some of the major players in this market are Brønderslev Forsyning, ACME Group, and Xcel Energy among others.

Concentrated Solar Power Industry Analysis:Competitor Analysis

The main challenge that a concentrated solar power plant faces is its location. They are generally located in desert areas where any kind of transportation is difficult. It constantly needs water for cooling which is a concern in the desert areas. Dry cooling can be used for the same; however, it can increase cost and reduce efficiency.

Key players in the CSP market include Brightsource Energy, Acciona, Solar Millennium, Areva, eSolar, Siemens, Abengoa, and Solar Reserve among others. The market has only a handful of local and international companies.

Please note: This is not an exhaustive list of companies profiled in the report.

These projects require huge capital investment and a large area to be set up. It can only be set up in areas which do not have too many objects to diffuse the sunlight. As they are located in barren areas, long distance diffusion is required which involves high costs.