New Horizons for Concentrated Solar Power

Spain is at present the absolute leader in terms of concentrating solar thermal power capacity with approximately 1330 MW and more than 20 years of experience in research and technology developments.

But despite all its potential for expansion, the Concentrating Solar Power industry is facing the most challenging times of all; due to the global economic downturn, lower prices in other energy sources and most importantly, the drastic cuts in Spanish subsidies for this technology, which have created a great deal of uncertainty among the global community.

However, CSP has rapidly captured the attention of international markets willing to invest in this technology, and while Spain accounted for the vast majority of capacity additions in 2011 with 450 MW installed; several developing countries launched their first Concentrating Solar Power plants in markets like Algeria, Australia, China, Egypt, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and many more. Additionally, other countries such as Chile, Israel and Italy have already begun work on legislation needed to support CSP development.

The industry has started to realize that it is currently ‘make or break’ for CSP and that 2012 is the time to react to change and accelerate the industry’s evolution, by diversifying its reach and penetrating new markets.

For that reason, the 6th International Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Summit in Seville has a special focus on industry diversification, new technologies and lucrative new markets. The summit, widely known as CSP Today Seville will take place on the 13th and 14th of November in Seville, Spain.

One of the unique features of this year’s summit is, for the first time the participation of international delegations representing the emerging markets with the upmost potential to invest in CSP, including government representatives and local private companies. Some of the participants already confirmed in these sessions are: the Department of Energy, Eskom and Sastela representing South Africa; the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Godawari Green Energy and FAST representing India; and the Renewable Energy Division of the Ministry of Energy along with the Northern Interconnected System (SING), representing Chile.

Additionaly, industry veterans such as Valeriano Ruiz, Luis Crespo, Michael Geyer, José Alfonso Nebrera, Eduardo Zarza, Nikolaus Benz, Florian Klein and Santiago Arias will take part in the discussions. The speaker line-up features leading CSP companies including: Acciona, Abengoa, ACS Cobra, Schott, Torresol Energy, ESTELA, CIEMAT, CENER, DLR and the Energy Unit of the European Commission.

This year top executives from the entire CSP value chain will be in attendance, alongside members from the financial community, government representatives, key associations and new stakeholders.

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