Reports & Studies

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Concentrating solar power deployed with thermal energy storage provides a dispatchable source of renewable energy. The value of CSP with thermal energy storage, as with other potential generation resources, needs to be established using traditional utility planning tools.

IRENA - International Renewable Energy Agency

This report provides the most current, comprehensive analysis of the costs and performance of renewable power generation technologies available today. The results are largely based on new, original analysis of around 8 000 medium‑ to large‑scale commissioned or proposed renewable power generation projects from a range of data sources. 

Ceres

This report summarizes responses from insurance companies to a survey on climate risk developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). In 2012 insurance regulators in California, New York and Washington required insurers that write in excess of $300 million in direct written premiums, and are licensed to operate in any of the three states, to disclose their climate-related risks using this survey. The aim of the surveyand Ceres’ analysis of the responses is to provide regulators with substantive informationabout the risks to insurers posed by climate change, as well as steps insurers are taking in response to their understanding of climate change risks.

Key Takeaway:

Due to its flexibility in dispatching power to the grid, the value of CSP with storage is $32/MWh to $40/MWh higher than the value of a Photovoltaic (PV) plant.

The analysis evaluates CSP with thermal energy storage (TES) in a scenario in which California derives 33% of its electricity from renewable energy sources in 2020. Employing a commercial grid simulation tool, it examines the avoided operational and capacity costs associated with CSP with TES and compares this value to PV as well as a “baseload” generator (i.e., with constant output). Operational costs include energy, ancillary services, emissions, and variable O&M costs. The analysis demonstrates the key economic benefits of dispatchable CSP – including the flexibility to generate during periods of high market value and withhold production during periods of lower value.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

This report reviews a recent sample of U.S. load-serving entity planning studies and their procurement processes to identify how current practices reflect the drivers of solar's economic value.

The Value of CSP with Thermal Storage

The Concentrating Solar Power Alliance (CSPA) has just released “The Economic and Reliability Benefits of CSP with Thermal Energy Storage: Recent Studies and Research Needs.”  Authored by Dr. Udi Helman, Brightsource’s Director of Economic and Pricing Analysis, the report synthesizes and reviews recent research highlighting the economic value of CSP with thermal energy storage. Of particular interest to regulators, utility planners and grid operators.

DARA and the Climate Vulnerable Forum
This report challenges a conventional view: that global action on climate change is a cost to society. Instead, it enlightens our understanding of how tackling climate change through coordinated efforts between nations would actually produce much-needed benefits for all.

Center for American Progress
The small amount of renewable energy derived from public estates represents a missed opportunity to use public lands and waters to model a new energy future. Huge potential exists to responsibly develop publicly owned renewable resources that will help us move away from dirty fossil fuels toward cleaner electricity options that will support a healthier society.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
A report published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Renewable Electricity Futures Study (RE Futures), is an initial investigation of the extent to which renewable energy supply can meet the electricity demands of the continental United States over the next several decades.

Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
This June 2012 report estimates the long-run economic value of variable renewable generation with increasing penetration using a unique investment and dispatch model.