The Australian energy market is missing a great opportunity by not exploring the full potential of Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) technology.
The Clean Energy Council (CEC) this week added its support for CST along with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
ARENA is currently investigating the feasibility of CST as part of its Advancing Renewables program.
According to CEC Chief Executive Kane Thornton, our vision must not be clouded on CST.
He said if we do not investigate the benefits of CST we are “letting an opportunity slip through our fingers”.
Greater role for Concentrated Solar Thermal
The current energy market does not fully acknowledge the value of the important services CST can offer the power system, Mr Thornton says.
While the falling price of solar power has led to increased uptake of the technology, solar photovoltaic (PV) rooftop panels are just one aspect of solar capability.
The concentrated nature of CST combined with solar thermal storage technology is an important aspect of solar energy.
Because of this, CST provides renewable energy for hours after the sun has gone down.
Mr Thornton says a more diverse and competitive fleet of renewable energy technologies means a more robust and efficient energy system for the future.
“We have a pressing need to accelerate the development of advanced energy technologies in order to deliver diversity across the renewable energy fleet.”
How Concentrated Solar Thermal works
CST technology focuses the sun’s energy in a concentrated way.
Different types range from solar energy towers at the centre of enormous mirror fields to parabolic dishes and rows of mirrors tracking the sun.
CST types include:
- Linear Fresnel: Long rows of flat or slightly curved mirrors that move independently.
- Tower: An array of heliostats (large mirrors with two-axis tracking) concentrate sunlight onto a fixed receiver at the top of a tower.
- Dish: A paraboloidal dish with two-axis tracking focuses sunlight to a point receiver.
- Trough: Most widely used, parabolic mirrors track the sun from east to west.
